'Miral' – A Film to Keep an Eye On

Schnabel returns and brings Abbass with him

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Monday, February 2nd 2009 at 2:10 PM

Hiam Abbass's performance seemed to be completely overlooked once it came time to discussing awards this year, especially considering Richard Jenkins's performance in The Visitor wouldn't have been nearly as effective had he not been acting opposite Abbass for the film's climactic moments.

Julian Schnabel is the Oscar nominated director of the fantastic 2007 feature The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and his next film, Miral will star Abbass with production set to begin in April.

The film 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 wrote and will direct the film which he intends to film entirely on location in Israel and the Palestinian territories. He's spent the past few months trying to put his passion project together.