"A fascinating take on a group of young people whose future is so constrained it almost compresses the screen." — Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International

"Perfectly captures teenage fearlessness and bravado along with a certain cluelessness about how the real world works."— Alissa Simon, Variety

"Alam is an affecting and effective film firmly fixated on contradictions and how we navigate them to create a sense of self." — Adam Mullins-Khatib, Chicago Reader

Despite being part of a young generation of Palestinian Arabs whose families chose to stay and challenge the Israeli state after Al-Nakba, 17-year-old Tamer and his friends are just like any other group of teenage boys. They clumsily search for drugs, flirt with girls, play video games, and slack off at school. However, when a beautiful new student named Maysaa’ joins their class Tamer immediately falls for her and, by association, is drawn into her political activism. Together they join fellow classmate, Safwat, in an operation to covertly raise the Palestinian flag and peacefully disrupt the local celebrations planned for Israel’s Independence Day – otherwise known to Palestinians as a day of mourning and memorialization for their displacement 70 years prior. Unsure of his own political convictions, Tamer must quickly determine what matters to him and what price he is willing to pay for freedom.