Description:

Inspired by real events, documentary filmmaker Saverio Costanzo’s feature debut is a minimalist psychological drama about a Palestinian family of seven suddenly confronted with a volatile situation in their home that in many ways reflects the larger ongoing conflict between Palestine and Israel.

Winner of a Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival, Private is convincingly shot in a documentary style with a hand-held camera and a quick pace. Director Costanzo has created a unique occasion for both Israeli and Palestinian actors to work together, and being an outsider himself, he has worked to maintain a neutral standpoint while dramatizing the conflict.

Official Selection of the 2005 Vancouver International Film Festival and San Francisco International Film Festival

Reviews:

“. . . acted with fierce conviction”
- Village Voice

“. . . captures [war’s] harrowing complexities with unerring accuracy”
- Toronto Int’l Film Festival

“. . . an effectively didactic thriller”
- Philadelphia Inquirer

Trailer:

In Theaters

This film is no longer in theaters.

At Festivals

This film is no longer at film festivals.