The late Syrian director Hatem Ali speaks about the book, and his desire to create a TV series and how fundraising for Palestinian stories faces unique challenges due to industry hesitation, complex political contexts, and limited access to traditional funding networks. Time of White Horses
IN PRE-PRODUCTION. 3 Seasons.
Ibrahim Nasrallah, a renowned Palestinian-Jordanian poet and novelist, penned "The Time of White Horses" (Zaman al-Khuyūl al-Baydā') in 2007, earning a shortlist position for the prestigious International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2009.
This epic historical novel, celebrated for its masterful storytelling and historical depth, draws from years of collected oral histories and familial accounts, weaving together the rich tapestry of Palestinian life across pivotal decades of the 20th century.
Set in the Palestinian village of Hadiya during the early twentieth century, the novel follows three generations of the Abdul Hadi family, centering on the proud patriarch Hajj Mahmud. The narrative spans from the final years of Ottoman rule, through the British Mandate period, to the establishment of Israel in 1948. The family's destiny is intertwined with their cherished Arabian horses, particularly the magnificent white mare Hamama, which becomes both a symbol of their heritage and their resilience in the face of mounting challenges. Through the lens of the Abdul Hadi family's experiences, including their dedication to breeding and training horses, their code of honor, and their deep connection to their land, Nasrallah crafts a rich tapestry that chronicles the systematic erosion of Palestinian society. The story captures both the grandeur of their traditional life and its tragic unraveling, illuminating a crucial period in Palestinian history through intimate, human-scale drama.
In Pre-production
Ibrahim Nasrallah
Ibrahim Nasrallah the winner of the Arabic Booker Prize (2018), was born in Amman-Jordan in 1954 to Palestinian parents who were uprooted in 1948 from their homeland. Nasrallah is a poet, novelist, painter, and photographer.
To date, Nasrallah has published 15 poetry collections, 25 novels, and 2 film critic books. In 1985, he started writing the Palestinian Tragicomedy covering 250 years of modern Palestinian history in a series of novels in which each novel is an independent one. 14 novels were published in the framework of this project, many of which were awarded the most prestigious literary awards in the Arab world. His works have been translated and published in English, Italian, Danish, Turkish, Spanish, Persian, and other languages. Nasrallah's books are among the bestselling books in the Arab world, his work has attracted attention among critics and international academia with more than 14 literary critic books and 80 Ph.D and Masters theses studying his work. His novel Prairies of Fever was chosen by the Guardian newspaper as one of the most important ten novels written by Arabs or non-Arabs about the Arab world.
He won 11 prizes, among them 5 for his poetry. The most recent award was in 2023, when he received the “Grand Prize for Novel” from the Writers’ Union of Türkiye in recognition of his works. In 2022 he received
The Palestine Prize for Literature by The Palestine Prize Foundation in the USA. His novel The Second Dog War won the Arabic Booker Prize in 2018.
In January 2014, he succeeded in summiting Mount Kilimanjaro in a venture that involved two Palestinian adolescents, a boy and a girl, who have lost their legs. The climb was in support of a nongovernmental organization dedicated to providing medical services to children. He wrote about this journey in a novel entitled The Spirits of Kilimanjaro, which was awarded the Katara Prize for Arabic Novels (2016). In 2020, he became the first Arabic writer to be awarded the Katara Prize for the second time for his novel "A Tank Under the Christmas Tree".