Films in shooting or post-production
Orient Adagio
Synopsis
Yazan is a Palestinian filmmaker, born and raised in a Syrian refugee camp. When he gets a residency in Paris to write his first feature, it’s a dream come true at the worst time: he is grieving his grandmother’s death in Aleppo, crushed by self-doubt, and heartbroken. Longing to make his first film, he finds himself emotionally blocked, haunted by trauma and survivor’s guilt. Alone in this beautiful city, pressured to prove himself, he spirals between inspiration and despair. In a desperate attempt to reconnect, he invites fellow international filmmakers from the residency to read his script. What begins as a creative exercise turns into a chaotic, funny, and revealing encounter. Set entirely in Paris, Orient Adagio is a heartfelt satire about identity, artistic paralysis, and resilience—a parody of filmmaking and filmmakers and a love letter to art in general.
Talal Khoury
Véronique Lange
Faraj Suleiman
Sherwan Haji
Fresco Films (Palestine)
Tony Copti & Jiries Copti
Blue Train Films (France)
Michel Zana
Okta Film (Italy)
Paolo Benzi
Director’s statement
Orient Adagio is a comedic parody of the often absurd world of filmmaking, where ego, identity, and politics collide. Through the story of a Palestinian-Syrian filmmaker in Paris, the film explores dislocation, artistic paralysis, and the fragile balance between personal vision and collective creation. What begins as a simple table read quickly unravels into humorous chaos, as an ensemble of international filmmakers, each bringing their own histories and biases, turn a creative exercise into a lively clash of perspectives. Their passionate attempts to “help” expose both the beauty and absurdity of collaboration, where every voice demands to be heard. Beneath the satire lies a sincere reflection on belonging and the creative process itself. Orient Adagio celebrates the tension between individuality and community, revealing how art becomes a space where memory, politics, and emotion intertwine, a love letter to filmmaking and the messy, collective act of creation.
Biographies
Maha Haj is a Palestinian filmmaker known for her poignant and subtly political storytelling. She began as a set designer before directing acclaimed works like Oranges and Personal Affairs, which had its premiere at the Festival de Cannes in 2016 and won multiple awards. Her second feature-length film, Mediterranean Fever (2022), was also presented at Cannes and earned the Un Certain Regard Best Screenplay prize. In 2024, Haj released Upshot, which won the Pardino d’Oro at the Locarno Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.
Founded by Tony and Jiries Copti, Fresco Films produces bold cinema that links Palestinian stories with global audiences. Their productions include the Academy Award-nominated Ajami (2009), The Stranger (2021), selected for the Venice International Film Festival, Happy Holidays (2024), which also screened in Venice, and Yunan (2025).
Founded in 2017 by Michel Zana, Blue Train Films' credits include Sudan, Remember Us (2024), which was selected for the Toronto and Venice International Film Festivals, and The Blue Line (2025). Zana also co-founded Dulac Distribution, which has distributed more than 180 feature-length films, and has produced more than 20 films.
April 2026
