Concrete Sky /سماء خرسانية
By Basel Nasr and Ahmad Saleh
2025, Palestine, Ramallah, 5:43 min
The daily journey the balloon girl takes, witnessing the effects of the apartheid wall, as it separates children from their schools, families from each other and people from their land.
Language: None
Recommended for children under 14 years of age: Yes
Technique: Hybrid, Video, 2D, 3D
Team:
Written and Directed By: Basel Nasr and Ahmad Saleh.
Animation: Dia’ Al-Azzeh, Farah Ghniem, Abdullah Awwad.
Artwork: Abd Al-Rahman Haj Yahya, Production Assistant: Majdal Soboh.
Camera: Ashraf Dowani, Camera Assitant: Muhanad Mitwali, Mishal Qawasmi, Compositing and Color Correction: Salah Hussein.
Actors: Salma Abu Hilal, Khaled Abu Hilal, Aseel Shaheen, Kareem Nasr.
Music: Braveness By Styve Bolduc.
Special Thanks: Vision Association for Culture and Arts.
Inspired by the Graffiti of: Banksy, Sam3, Blu, vince7.
Produced By: Maṣna‘ al rusūm al mutaḥarrikah
The film was commissioned by, and has been continuously screening at the Yasser Arafats Museum in Ramallah.
Stills:
About Ahmad Saleh and Basel Nasr:
Ahmad Saleh is a Palestinian/Jordanian/German writer and director. His first film, HOUSE, 2012 won a second place in the German Short Film Award and his second film, AYNY, 2016 won an Academy Award. Recently he finished his third short film, NIGHT and is developing his first feature. He collaborates artistically with his brothers: Saleh and Saed. Ever since they made their first film, HOUSE, the brothers made films together and established their own family studio. Inspired by their mother’s hobby of making ceramic flowers, the kids grow loving hand crafts. And that is probably what made building puppets and movie sets the natural medium to tell their stories. Ahmad Saleh also presents an original storytelling performance Inside the TV Box, I Found the True Story of the People of Palestine of which the artist says: “I stand before the audience and narrate true stories from my journey – from outside Palestine to inside, and back out again. The films serve as chapters in this narrative, complementing my live narration. Throughout the performance, I intermittently dim the lights to allow the films to speak for themselves, before resuming the live narration.”