Sabra Zoo

"Beautifully told, ambitious and important, this is a debut with something to say."--Ronan Bennett"A stunning, defiant debut."--"The Guardian"It is the summer of 1982 and Beirut is under siege. Eighteen-year-old Ivan's parents have just been evacuated from the city with other members of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Ivan stays on, interpreting for international medical volunteers in Sabra refugee camp by day, getting stoned with them by night, and working undercover for the PLO. Hoping to get closer to Eli, a Norwegian physiotherapist, he helps her treat Youssef, a camp orphan disabled by a cluster bomb. An unexpected friendship develops between the three and things begin to look up.But events take a nasty turn when the president-elect is assassinated. The Israeli army enters Beirut and surrounds the camp, with Eli and Youssef trapped inside. Are the rumors of a massacre in the camp true? Will Ivan be able to salvage anything from the chaos?Mischa Hiller is a talented new voice. He was born in 1962 and grew up in Durham, London, Beirut, and Dar El-Salaam. Mischa won the 2009 European Independent Film Festival script competition for his adaptation of "Sabra Zoo." He lives in Cambridge. For more information please visit www.sabrazoo.com.