About the film
The story of a forbidden love in Gaza, and the modern re-telling of the Arabo-Islamic romance Majnun Layla.
Habibi
— BY Susan Youssef
status
Completed
type
Fiction
year
2011
director
Susan Youssef
producers
Susan Youssef
Synopsis
Habibi, a story of forbidden love, is the first fiction feature set in Gaza in over 15 years. Two students in the West Bank are forced to return home to Gaza, where their love defies tradition. To reach his lover, Qays grafittis poetry across town. Habibi is a modern re-telling of the famous ancient Sufi parable Majnun Layla. The full Arabic title is Habibi Rasak Kharban, which translates as “darling, something’s wrong with your head.”
About the team
Susan Youssef is a filmmaker whose work has screened at venues such as Museum of Modern Art – New York and Sundance Film Festival. Before filmmaking, Susan was a schoolteacher and journalist in Beirut, Lebanon. She was born in Brooklyn, New York.
Habibi is a Cinereach grantee.