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A State of Passion (18) – SAFAR Film Festival 2025
Tavistock Place
Plymouth
Devon
PL4 8AT
Opening Times
| Season (26 May 2025) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Day | Times | |
| Monday | 00:00 | - 00:00 |
Prices
Standard £9.50 | Matinees £7.50 | Over 60 £8.25 | 25 & Under, Students, AUP Staff, Budget (unwaged/ low income) £4.50 | Bringing in Baby, Family screenings £4.50 | Friends 10% discount and £6.50 on Tuesdays.
About us
Dir. Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi, Palestine/Jordan, 2024, 90 mins. In Arabic (with English subtitles) and English. Age rating advisory 18.
After 43 horrific days working round the clock under constant bombardment in the emergency rooms of Gaza's Al Shifa and Al Ahli hospitals, British-Palestinian reconstructive surgeon, Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, emerged to find himself as a face of Palestinian resistance.
With news footage of him pale and shell-shocked reverberating around the world, he spoke of a catalogue of horrors from lacerated bodies, to amputations without anesthetics, orphaned children with no surviving family, and the deliberate targeting of medics and hospital facilities.
This was Ghassan's sixth and most horrific Gaza "war". Why does he do it? Where does he find the strength to face it again and again? How does it impact his family? How do they process the risks he takes? The answer lies simply in their shared passion: Palestine, a passion they articulate through their support of his perilous humanitarian work.
Filmmakers Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi, close friends of the Abu Sittahs, share that same passion. They were waiting anxiously for Ghassan to emerge from Gaza, following a long and terrifying journey through the night, to meet him in Amman. Determined to capture his raw emotions they began filming him the moment he arrived through the door. Following him to Beirut, Amman, London, Kuwait, and Dubai, they and he explore their common State of Passion.
Premiering at the 2024 Cairo International Film Festival and awarded the Saad Eldin Wahba Award for Best Arabic Film, A State of Passion offers a deeply human perspective on the cost of survival and the ongoing fight for dignity.
Content notes: advisory 18. This film contains graphic footage of war including torture, injury, surgery and views of dead bodies.
SAFAR Film Festival, the UK's leading platform for independent Arab cinema, is celebrating its landmark 10th edition and returning to cinemas from 11-28 June.
This year's SAFAR programme spans decades, geographies and genres, and speaks urgently to the present while excavating the past. It presents cinema that bears witness, that dares to remember and that subverts expectation.
In Plymouth, audiences can enjoy two new award-winning fictions from Palestine and Egypt - Thank You For Banking With Us!, a sharp, darkly humorous tale of sisterhood from Palestine, and The Tale of Daye's Family, a unique and often hilarious testament to the power of music, hope, and the unbreakable bond of family over adversity.
For fans of documentary, A State of Passion offers a deeply human perspective on the cost of survival and the ongoing fight for dignity, through an insight into the life and work of British-Palestinian surgeon and activist Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah.
SAFAR Film Festival 2025 runs from 11-28 June with screenings in Plymouth and 9 other cities across the UK and online. It is organised by the Arab British Centre and is supported by the BFI, awarding funds from the National Lottery, the British Council, the Bagri Foundation, the Asfari Foundation, the City of London Corporation and Barjeel Art Foundation.
