Saleem Dabbour (Arabic: سليم دبور) (born 18 September 1970), is a Palestinian writer, scenarist, director, film critic and political activist.[1] Dabbour became popular for his "straight-forward and daring work" as a writer in Kaffa (2007) and Shubak al-Ankabout (2009).[2]
Born in Jalazone, Palestine in 1970, Dabbour acquired Dutch citizenship in 1998 after a royal decision by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and since then, detains two citizenships (Dutch and Palestinian). He holds a BA degree in English Literature from Bir Zeit University and a postgraduate diploma in Cultural Studies from the Netherlands.
Dabbour started writing poetry and stories at a very young age. His first poem was published in the national newspaper aged 12. He continued writing and publishing throughout his teenage years; at least hundreds of his writings, including poems, short stories, song lyrics and articles were published in mainly Arabic, but also a few Western/American magazines and newspapers. He sang, recorded various tapes and performed at several occasions in his late teens. In university he became editor of both the Arabic and English university magazines, as well as an important contributor. He wrote several plays (among others 'Khaliluha'; Keep Her – on the social custom of early marriage, 'Fi Beetina Jinn'; A Ghost in Our House – on superstitions and 'Mala'ikaat Rahmeh; Angels of Mercy – on performance of nurses) most of which were performed in the main Palestinian theater houses. He also authored two novels; 'Saber' – A common name that can be translated as The Patient One; on the life of a Palestinian between 1982–1993, and 'Al-Kharqa al-Belliyya' – The Dirty Rag, on social and political life of a group of young Palestinian adults; but both remain unpublished. Saleem continued writing short stories and won literary prizes, incl. First Prize for Short Prose 2003, El-Hidzjra Foundation, Netherlands, for 'Eyewitness' – a story on the Jenin Massacre in 2002, in which hundreds of Palestinians were brutally killed. English and Dutch translations of his work are distributed through a network of admirers in the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France.
Dabbour was chosen to participate in Stateless Nation, a project from the Venice Biennale that collected video interviews with prominent Palestinians in Palestine and the Diaspora for ongoing exhibition throughout Europe, starting at the Venice Biennale in 2003 and currently (2008) at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium.
Upon return to the West Bank in late 2003, Dabbour started working for the Association of Women Committees for Social Work, where he is still the General Manager of PR and Programs on a full time basis. He established and runs his own semi-independent department within this organization to empower Palestinian women and promote their rights. He was selected to take part in the US Department of State-funded International Visitor Leadership Program in 2006 as sole Palestinian representative, during which he was presented the Distinguished Visitor Plague by the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights in 2006.
Dabbour was listed in the top 5 "Leading cultural personality" category in Palestine in Ma'an's 2009 Annual Leading Figures and Organizations poll.[3][4] About 296,000 of the voters who took part in the poll were in Palestinian territories, 85,000 were in Israel, and the remainder of voters, 10% of the total, were from 120 other countries, mainly Jordan, Egypt and the United States.[3]
He recently traded his home in this refugee camp near Ramallah on the West Bank for life in the adjoining village of Jifna. Lived from 1998–1999 and between 2000-2003 in the Netherlands.
Nuktet Tahawul, also known as Turning Point, was the brainchild of producer and writer Anas Abu Saada, director Refaat Aadi and scenarist Saleem Dabbour. The film was an intended "turning point" in Palestinian cinema history, with a 100% Palestinian-backed production.[5][6][7] The film gained a lot of media attention for being the first Palestinian film that was released in Egyptian cinemas, after initially being banned by former Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak.[8][9][6] The film that was shot in its entirety in Palestine, faced many difficulties due to Israeli conflicts, especially when shooting in the cities of Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour in the West Bank.[5][9][6][7]
The drama, which is based on true stories about a Palestinian growing up under Israeli occupation in the early and late 80s, stars Sami Mitwasi as narrator and leading character Osama, and co-stars 15-year old Majd Dabbour as the young Osama.[7] The 100-minute film which took 14 months to shoot, is set in a small Palestinian village and tells a personal journey of adolescence and young adulthood, struggles, hardships and existence.[5][9][6] As a child, Osama tries to live a carefree life, but he is surrounded by misery and strongly believes that the occupation is responsible for most of it.[8][5][6] His hate of the occupation and love for the country surmounts the love for his family members, his true love, and his much older, special friend.[8][5][6]
Kaffa! is a short drama that deals with the political turmoil in Palestine which began in January 2006 during the first democratic parliamentary elections that Hamas participated in, its unexpected landslide victory, the following international aid boycott and the developing internal conflicts that marked 2007 and overshadowed Israeli occupation policies.[10] The 48-minute film sought to provide truthful and objective insight into these issues by capturing developments in a family with two sons of rivaling parties. Focusing on the mother and the sons who belonged to rival factions Hamas and Fateh, the film followed the family through the excitement of the pre-election and immediate post-election period, to the growing tensions and increasing inter-factional violence which disrupts family life and the mother's health.[10]
Kaffa! was awarded the Gold Prize at the 2009 Tunis Arab Media Festival,[10] and won the Silver Prize at the 14th Arab Media Festival in Cairo, 2008, in the short film category.[11]
Al-Hayaa Ahla (Life is Better) was the first-ever Palestinian-made animated film for children.[12] Written by Dabbour, this 22-minute long film that evolves around children's rights using original characters, was funded by UNICEF and distributed to children, schools and child rights organizations throughout Palestinian territories.[12]
Shu Fi Ma Fi was the second Palestinian-produced TV 'soap' series in history. Produced by the independent Ma'an Development Center, the series, which was labelled as a family comedy, consisted of twenty 40-minute episodes set in a University and dealt with a range of social and political issues including domestic violence, corruption, parliamentary elections, inter-religious marriage, online love and drugs. The series, which was deemed a great achievement for Palestinian media productions, was first broadcast in 2006, during the month of Ramadan on Palestinian Satellite Channel as well as 12 other independent Palestinian TV channels.
In April 2011, Dabbour accused the Israeli government of assassinating Palestinian director Juliano Mer Khamis and went on to claim that Israel has an agenda against Palestinian artists "who expose their policies".[13]
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Category:1970 births
Category:Living people
Category:Palestinian writers
Category:Palestinian screenwriters
Category:Palestinian dramatists and playwrights