Mayor (film)


Mayor is a 2020 American documentary film produced and directed by David Osit. The film follows Musa Hadid, the mayor of Ramallah, the de facto capital of Palestine, for two years.

Release

Mayor premiered in March 2020 at the True/False Film Fest, one of the last film festivals to proceed as scheduled in the first half of 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Reception

In his Critic's Pick review for Indiewire Eric Kohn writes "There have been countless documentaries made about the West Bank experience, from “5 Broken Cameras” to “The Settlers,” and they often involve the travails of ordinary life existing side by side with military persecution. “Mayor” offers a striking new perspective on that struggle, with a personal on-the-ground quality matched by grand tonal ambitions that makes it the best of its subgenre."
Tomris Laffley of Variety writes "Osit brings a respectful approach that admirably never registers as observations of a patronizing Westerner", and called the film "astonishing" and "sharply witty".
Many reviews praised the film's use of dark comedy; Stephen Saito of Movable Fest writes that the film often resembles "a lost season of Veep" and Mary McNamara of Los Angeles Times describes the film as both "troubling and hilarious".

Awards

2020 - Copenhagen International Documentary Festival - NEXT:WAVE Award
2020 - Full Frame Documentary Film Festival - Reva and David Logan Grand Jury Award