UHF42 E01+E02

UHF42 E01+E02 are the first two episodes of a teledrama set entirely within the studios and offices of Wattan TV, a 24-hour television news agency based in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. Each episode portrays one day in a continuous work week, blending scripted performances with documentary scenes of office life. The series follows the station's managers, technicians and journalists as they act out a report on the rise of consumer debt in the city of Ramallah. The area has experienced a surge in private bank loans over the past decade, forming a cosmopolitan island of prosperity in the occupied Palestinian territories. Parallel to these developments, Wattan created a dramatized series to report on the advent of the criminal justice system in Ramallah, providing one of the first scripted news programs of its kind in the Middle East. For the production of UHF42, Mike Crane worked with the writer and crew members of that series to script a new fictional drama about the credit system that has shaped the city over the past decade. UHF42 adapts the formal techniques of news production to investigate a period of rapid development, employing the station’s workers to probe the structures of public and private debt under military occupation.
by Mike Crane
with Wafaa Arouri, Kamal Odeh, Sara AlAdra, Hamza AlSalaymeh, May Marei, Ala Zeid, Raneen Khalid, Emad S. AbuBaker
USA / Palestine 2017 Arabic 40’ Colour

With

  • Wafaa Arouri
  • Kamal Odeh
  • Sara AlAdra
  • Hamza AlSalaymeh
  • May Marei
  • Ala Zeid
  • Raneen Khalid
  • Emad S. AbuBaker

Crew

Director Mike Crane
Screenplay Khaled Faqeeh
Cinematography Amjad Shoman
Editing Sameh Kareem
Sound Atheer Niem
Production Design Atheer Niem
Casting Khaled Faqeeh
Assistant Director Mai Murai
Production Manager Samia Hirzalla
Producers Khaled Faqeeh, Mike Crane

Wattan TV

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Mike Crane

Mike Crane, born in 1982 in Miami, USA, and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, is an artist currently based in New York. He graduated from the Cooper Union School of Art (BFA) and Hunter College, City University of New York (MFA). Crane has presented his work in cinemas and exhibitions worldwide.

Filmography

2005 Highlands; 140 min. 2009 New Company; 45 min. 2010 Spoke Hub Distribution Paradigm; 60 min. · Theory of Heat; 15 min. 2012 Assembly Room 1; 42 min. 2014 Feedback Action Program; 30 min. 2015 Choice Modeling; 20 min. · Bunker Drama; 30 min., Forum Expanded 2016 2017 UHF42 E01+E02

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2017