actor

Laila's Birthday

58 %|Apr 9, 2009|Drama

"At eight o'clock, it's Laila's birthday, okay?" Palestinian judge turned cab driver Abu Laila's wife reminds her husband. But on his young daughter's birthday, like any day, Abu faces a nerve-wracking shift in a Ramallah yellow cab armed only with an ex-jurist's misplaced pride, a father's loyalty, and a sticker reminding passengers that smoking and carrying AK-47s are prohibited. Rather than address politics or document holy war heroics and villainy, Laila's Birthday focuses on the toll that the unending Palestinian-Israeli conflict extracts from civilians clinging to both employment and a semblance of normal life amidst chaos and corruption, missile attacks and bursts of gunfire.

Featured Crew

Mohamed Habib Attia
Producer
Rashid Masharawi
Producer
Peter van Vogelpoel
Producer
Hala Abu Sway
Production Coordinator
Wouter Barendrecht
Co-Producer
Pascale Chavance
Editor
Mayssoun Sharqawi
Wardrobe Supervisor
Manal Hilani
Makeup Artist

Cast

actor
Areen Omari
Um Laila
actor
Saleh Bakri
Former Prisoner
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Walid Abed Elsalam
Director in the Ministry of Justice
actor
Karma Zoubi
Woman passenger to the hospital
actor
Khaled Horani
Policeman in the police station
actor
Hossine Nakhla
Donkey's Owner
actor
Ahmad Abu Sal'oum
the second taxi driver
actor
Housam Abu A'ishe
Gas Station Employee