Palestinian wins best actor award at Venice film fest

Kamel El Basha ventured from stage to the screen in Lebanese film 'The Insult'

By Jessica Steinberg
  • Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
 11 September 2017, 6:22 pm
Kamel El Basha holds aloft the Volpi Cup for best actor for his role in 'The Insult' during the award ceremony at the 74th Venice Film Festival at the Venice Lido, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Palestinian actor Kamel El Basha won the best actor award at the Venice Film Festival for his portrayal of Palestinian refugee Yasser in the courtroom drama “The Insult,” a French-Lebanese drama by director Ziad Doueiri.

The film revolves around a dispute between Toni, a Lebanese Christian, and Yasser, a Palestinian refugee and building site foreman, over a trivial plumbing issue.

The actor, who was born in East Jerusalem, and works as an actor, director, writer and teacher, graduated from Jerusalem’s School for Visual Theater and works primarily in East Jerusalem, on Arabic language stage productions.

El Basha dedicated the award to the Palestinian people. The film, which will be screened in Lebanon, will also be submitted as Lebanon’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2018 Academy Awards.

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