Mo'

Overview

An infant survivor of the 1982 siege of Beirut, Mo grows up believing his mother is still alive. In 2007 he enters a Ramadan television game show for a single reason: to broadcast one plea to the Arab world, that he is looking for her.

The message reaches besieged Gaza, where she recognises him. Their televised reunion becomes an event. The real story is what happens once the cameras stop.

The tension

• The spectacle and the wound. A private search becomes public property the moment it works.
• Recognition is not reunion. To be seen by millions is not the same as being held by one.
• After the cameras. The reunion is the middle of the story, not the end.

Approach

• Inspired by a true story, carried by character rather than headline.
• An intimate epic. One family’s search, staged against a region that watches itself on television.