10th Annual Houston Palestine Film Festival: 3000 Nights (3000 Layla) (at MFAH)

The 10th Annual Houston Palestine Film Festival, takes place over three weekends in May. The annual Houston Palestine Film Festival presents an honest and independent view of Palestine and its diaspora’s society, culture, and politics through the art of film.

For nine years, the Houston Palestine Film Festival has presented audiences with award-winning comedies, dramas, and documentaries from a rich and growing Palestinian cinema movement.

The landmark 10th edition may be the festival’s most ambitious.

From two-time Oscar nominee Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now; Omar) comes The Idol, based on Arab Idol winner and singing sensation Mohammed Assaf;  Amber Fares’ Speed Sisters is a raucously funny documentary about the Arab world’s first all-woman professional auto racing team. Mai Masri presents 3000 Nights, her debut feature-length drama. And from Palestinian provocateurs Arab and Tarzan Nasser comes Dégradé, set in a Gaza hair salon.

HPFF screenings continue at Rice Cinema on May 19-22 and 26-28.

3000 Nights
3000 Layla

Directed by Mai Masri
2015, in Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles
Palestine/France/Jordan/Lebanon/Qatar/United Arab Emirates
103 minutes

Layal (Maisa Abd Elhadi), a newlywed Palestinian schoolteacher arrested after being falsely accused, is sentenced to eight years in prison. When she discovers she is pregnant, the prison director pressures her to abort the baby and spy on the Palestinian inmates.

Layal is resilient, however, and gives birth to a baby boy. Through her struggle to raise her son behind bars, she manages to find a sense of hope and a meaning to her life. Prison conditions deteriorate and the prisoners decide to strike.

In a moment of truth, Layal is forced to make a choice that will forever change her life.