Mustafa Abu Ali Explained

Native Name:	مصطفى أبو علي
Native Name Lang:	ar
Birth Place:	Maliha, Palestine
Death Place:	Jerusalem
Nationality:	Palestinian
Occupation:	Filmmaker
Notable Works:	No to a Peaceful Solution (1968) With Soul, With Blood (1971) They Do Not Exist (1974)

Mustafa Abu Ali (Arabic: مصطفى أبو علي), (1940 in Maliha, Palestine  - 30 July 2009 in Jerusalem) was a Palestinian filmmaker.^[1]

Abu Ali studied at the University of California-Berkeley in the 1960s before studying cinema in London, graduating in 1967. He is considered one of the founders of Palestinian cinema, and the Palestinian Cinema Association in Beirut in 1973, (re-established in Ramallah in 2004). Along with Sulafa Jadallah and Hani Jowharieh, he established the Palestine Film Unit (PFU)--which saw its primary task as "documenting the revolution and creating an archive of images of historical documents".^{[2] [3]}

After the PLO's move to Lebanon after the events of Black September, the PFU was renamed the Palestine Cinema Institute and became one of the seven departments of the PLO's Unified Media. Abu Ali headed the department from 1973 to 1975. Abu Ali wrote four screenplays and directed more than 30 films, for which he won more than 14 awards, the most recent from the 2003 Ismailia Film Festival.

Notable films

• 1968: No to a Peaceful Solution ^[4]
• 1971: With Soul, With Blood^[5]
• 1974: They Do Not Exist^{[6] [7] [8]}

See also

• Cinema of Palestine

External links

• Mustafa Abu Ali at "Dreams of a Nation", Columbia University
• They Do Not Exist (Laysa lahum wujud) (25:09) (1974)

Notes and References

1. Web site: They Do Not Exist: Remembering Palestinian Filmmaker Mustafa Abu Ali. Muftah. 25 July 2013. http://web.archive.org/web/20130818105829/http://muftah.org/they-do-not-exist-remembering-mustafa-abu-ali/ . 18 August 2013.
2. Book: Modern art in the Arab world : primary documents. 2018. Anneka Lenssen . Sarah A. Rogers . Nada M. Shabout. 978-1-63345-038-7. New York. 1035756538.
3. Web site: Mustapha Abu Ali . Zoom Out . 7 June 2024.
4. A Brief History of Palestinian Cinema . Khaled Elayyan . This Week in Palestine . January 2008 . 117 . 14 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140221224956/http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=2354&ed=149&edid=149 . 21 February 2014 . dead.
5. Web site: Emily Jacir . Emily Jacir . Palestinian Revolution Cinema Come to NYC . 16 February 2007 . . 7 June 2024.
6. Web site: Coming Home: Palestinian Cinema . Annemarie Jacir . Annemarie Jacir . . 27 February 2007 . 7 June 2024.
7. Web site: They Do Not Exist . Palestinian Cinema Archive . YouTube . 7 June 2024.
8. Web site: Lost picture show: the Palestinian Film Archive . Sarah Wood . 21 October 2009 . The Guardian . 7 June 2024.