Mahmoud (or Mahmud) Shalaby, or Mahmood Shalabi ( ar, محمود شلبي; he, מחמוד שלאבי or מחמוד שלבי), is an

Israeli Arab The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic and ...

actor born on July 19, 1982, in

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

. He has appeared in several films produced or co-produced in France and received the award for best male actor at the Film Festival of La Réunion in 2011 for the role of Naïm in the film '' A Bottle in the Gaza Sea'', directed by Thierry Binisti and adapted from the novel ''Une bouteille dans la mer de Gaza'' by

Valérie Zenatti Valérie Zenatti (born 1 April 1970, in Nice) is a French writer, translator and screenwriter. Biography Her novel, ' enjoyed a critical and public success and - after being selected in the final prix Médicis and prix des libraires – was ...

. He was honored with two other awards at the same festival.

Life and career

Shalaby grew up in a poor neighborhood in Acre in marked by urban violence. With his friends, he started a rap and hip-hop group, MWR, which is now dissolved. He then managed a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

before being contacted by director Keren Yedaya, who gave him his first role in a non-documentary film. He was interviewed in 2008 in the documentary ''

Slingshot Hip Hop ''Slingshot Hip Hop'' is a 2008 documentary film directed by Jackie Reem Salloum that traces the history and development of hip hop in the Palestinian territories from the time DAM pioneered the art form in the late 1990s. It braids together the ...

'' by

Jackie Reem Salloum Jacqueline Reem Salloum is a Palestinian/Syrian American artist and filmmaker. She received her MFA from New York University. Her work has been featured at Sundance Film Festival. She is the director and editor of the award-winning film, Slingsho ...

, which covered Palestinian hip-hop in three geographic areas:

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, and the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza. ...

.
Interview of Mahmoud Shalaby by Al-Arabiya News, 3 May 2010 Shalaby played the role of Toufik in '' Jaffa (2009 film), Jaffa'', directed by Keren Yedaya and released in 2009, and the role of the Jewish-Algerian singer

Salim Halali Salim Halali or Salim Hilali ( ar, سليم الهلالي, birth name Simon Halali, 30 July 1920 – 25 June 2005) was an Algerian singer who performed Algerian music and Arabic Andalusian classical music. He was a pop singer rather than a prof ...

in '' Free Men'', directed by

Ismaël Ferroukhi Ismaël Ferroukhi (born 26 June 1962) is a French- Moroccan film director and screenwriter. Ferroukhi was born in Kenitra. He gained exposure with his 1992 short film ''L'Exposé'', which won the Kodak Prize at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. Foll ...

and released in 2011. In 2010, Shalaby appeared with Mohammed Bakri in an Arabic

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, ''The Clock and the Man'' ( ar, الساعة والإنسان, he, השעון והאדם
Page giving the title of ''The Clock and the Man'' in Hebrew), adapted from a short story of the same name by the exiled Palestinian novelist Samira Azzam (1927-1967). He also played Naim, a young Palestinian from

Gaza Gaza may refer to: Places Palestine * Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea ** Gaza City, a city in the Gaza Strip ** Gaza Governorate, a governorate in the Gaza Strip Lebanon * Ghazzeh, a village in ...

, whose mother was played by

Hiam Abbass Hiam Abbass ( ar, هيام عباس, he, היאם עבאס; born 30 November 1960), also Hiyam Abbas, is a Palestinian actress and film director. Personal life Hiam Abbass was born in Nazareth, Israel, to a Muslim Arab family. She was raised ...

, opposite a young Israeli woman, Tal, played by Agathe Bonitzer, in a film directed by Thierry Binisti, '' A Bottle in the Gaza Sea''. The film was released in France on February 8, 2012.^,
Page on Allociné The film was inspired by a novel by

, ''Une bouteille dans la mer de Gaza''. In The Other Son by

Lorraine Lévy Lorraine Lévy (born 29 January 1964) is a French screenwriter, film and stage director, and playwright. She is the sister of writer Marc Levy. Life and career After studying literature and law, Lévy became a screenwriter for Jean-Loup Dabadie ...

, released in France on April 4, 2012, Shalaby played Bilal, ostensibly the brother of Yacine ( Mehdi Dehbi), but in fact the brother of Joseph ( Jules Sitruk), accidentally exchanged at birth in the confusion created by a bombing. With an interest in

Sufi music Sufi music refers to the devotional music of the Sufis, inspired by the works of Sufi poets like Rumi, Hafiz, Bulleh Shah, Amir Khusrow, and Khwaja Ghulam Farid. Qawwali is the best-known form of Sufi music and is most commonly found in th ...

, Shalaby plays the

kawala The ''kāwālā'' ( ar, or ; also called ''salamiya'', ) is an end-blown cane flute used in Arabic music. It is similar to the '' ney'' but has six finger holes, while the ''ney'' has seven (including one in the back). The ''kawala'' comes in u ...

,
Mahmoud Shalaby plays ''Bayat Mi'' on the kawala a traditional Egyptian flute, that is seen and heard in '' The Other Son''. Shalaby was shortlisted in the category of César Award for Most Promising Actor, Most Promising Actor for the

38th César Awards The 38th Annual César Awards ceremony, presented by the French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques (Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma), was held on 22 February 2013, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. The ceremony was chaired b ...

in 2013 for his appearance in '' A Bottle in the Gaza Sea''.
Shortlist on Allociné, accessed 30 January 2013^,
Photo taken during the Césars award dinner, accessed 30 January 2013

Filmography

* 2007 in film, 2007: '' DAM'' (documentary), dir. Elliot Manches: himself *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

: ''

'' (documentary), dir.

: himself *

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

: '' Jaffa (2009 film), Jaffa'', dir. Keren Yedaya: Toufik *

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

: ''The Clock and the Man'', dir. Gazi Abu Baker: Fathi * 2011: '' Free Men'', dir.

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

: '' A Bottle in the Gaza Sea'', dir. Thierry Binisti: Naïm *

: '' The Other Son'', dir.

: Bilal, brother of Yacine (as Mahmood Shalabi) *

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

: ''Shkufim'' (Hebrew for "Transparents"), dir. Mushon Salmona: Raaid

Awards

* Film Festival of La Réunion 2011: Best male actor ("Mascarin de la meilleure interprétation masculine") for the role of Naïm in '' A Bottle in the Gaza Sea'' (the film also won the "Prix du Public" and the "Prix Coup de cœur du Jury Jeune").
Palmarès festival Réunion 2011

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shalaby, Mahmoud 21st-century Israeli male actors Israeli male film actors 21st-century Palestinian actors Palestinian male actors Palestinian male film actors 1982 births People from Acre, Israel Living people Arab citizens of Israel Israeli rappers Palestinian rappers Israeli flautists