The Survivor

An emotional and symbolic drama depicting the transformation of Palestine into Israel by focusing on an Arab and Jewish couple who occupy the same house before and after the establishment of the state of Israel. Palestinian physician Saeed and his wife Latifeh live in 1948 Haifa. As Jewish refugees arrive from Europe and the Palestinian residents protest, tensions mount in the city. During the ensuing war, Saeed and Latifeh are killed but their infant son Farhan survives. Soon thereafter, a Jewish couple takes up residence in Saeed's house and adopts Farhan, whose name has been changed to Moshe. Meanwhile, Saeed's mother Safiyeh, who had come to Haifa to convince her son to flee the mounting tensions, finds out what happened and poses as the former nanny of Farhan/Moshe while her husband Rasheed plans their revenge. Loosely based on Ghassan Kanafani's story 'Returning to Haifa', and filmed in Lebanon with Arab actors directed by the late Iranian filmmaker Seifollah Daad, 'The Survivor' won a special jury prize at the 14th Fajr Film Festival in Tehran and an award for best screenplay at the Non-Aligned Movement Film Festival in Pyonyang. A Farsi dubbed version of the film, released in Iran under the title 'Bazmandeh,' was the first post-revolution Iranian production featuring actresses without head scarves, which created a stir after Seifollah Daad was appointed as Deputy Minister of Culture for Cinematic Affairs under President Khatami.