Ward Kayyal, graduated from the scholarship program last year, but for us our graduates will always be our students.
We believe that it’s very important to keep supporting our graduates with all the resources we have, connections, social media, funding etc, especially in the arts field where it intersects with culture and identity.
Ward is a final year student in the Film department at Minshar College for Art – a very prestigious institution. One of the requirements for finishing the Degree is to produce a film as a final project, which is very demanding, needing long hours of work, collaboration with others, and finding finance.
We searched for a photo of Ward in the Galilee activities but couldn’t find one. Then we remembered that he was always the one documenting the activities as part of his volunteering. He was always taking photos, videos, interviews and editing for everyone else.
Here is Ward, having provided the photo, and describing himself and his project in his own words.
Hello, my name is Ward Kayyal, I’m 26 years old, and I live in Haifa, and I am a recipient of the Galilee Foundation scholarship. In the past few months, I have been collaborating with Palestinian artists, and cinematographers on my graduation project in film making. This project, called “Hunting The Lion” is my launch into the world, and it is imperative that I achieve it in the best way possible.
Because I feel it is so important, I am working with actors of great experience, a large number of staff – all of whom support the film and its idea. Yet in our very complex context in which we exist, and from a political stance which supports independent production, I have decided to work on this film as a Palestinian independent production, stepping away from Israeli funding to which students usually have access to fund their film projects. At the same time, I have already spoken with the department where I study, and they have agreed on certain conditions to film my movie, which are: 1) to find funding independent from Israeli funding sources 2) not to show this film in Israeli festivals 3)presenting the film in International festivals only through me, and introducing it as a Palestinian film only and not as a Palestinian-Israeli film, and not crossing any boycott picket lines.
In the upcoming months I will begin filming the movie and I have launched a crowdfunding campaign through social media platforms. Given these circumstances, without the crowdfunding support, this project will be impossible to produce. Through this campaign I hope to raise 15,000 USD, which is minimal for producing a film. This would cover the costs of working on the film with minimum costs, in addition to being supported by friends and volunteers.
This is the link for the crowdfunding campaign:
It includes: a video in which I talk about the campaign, the film and myself. endorsements from supporters and a link to my Portfolio
Synopsis of “Hunting The Lion”:
After two weeks of illness, Hamzah returns to the forest to hunt the lion that he has long been looking for. Hamzah, the stubborn and tenacious hunter, takes us on a journey in his private and imaginary world as he searches for the lion, one he has been obsessed with catching in order to protect an old friend whom he swore never to disappoint again. On Hamzah’s way to the forest he is faced with many situations meant to prevent him from the hunt, whether due to people who love him and worry about him, or people who mock him. However, none of these were able to deter the stubborn and tenacious Hamzah from moving forward to confront the lion.
