Julian Schnabel has tapped Palestinian thesp Hiam Abbas will star in "Miral," a film about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Julian Schnabel has written the screenplay and will direct. He's spent the past few months trying to put his passion project together. The recent conflagration of violence in Gaza between the Israeli army and militant Palestinian group Hamas, which left some 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead, has made the project all the more relevant.
Project is an adaptation of Italo-Palestinian Rula Jebreal's book about the real-life Palestinian woman Hind Husseini, who started the Dar Al-Tifl orphanage in Jerusalem in the wake of the 1948 partition of Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel. Pic will span the years 1948-94.
Schnabel intends to lense the pic entirely on location in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Jon Kilik, who worked previously with Schnabel on "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," will produce the pic with Pathe financing. The Gallic mini-major is also looking to work with an Israeli co-producer.
Principal photography begins April 19.
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