Freida Pinto to appear in film on Israeli-Palestanian women

Jerusalem, March 25 (PTI) After a dream debut
performance in Oscar-winning "Slumdog Millionaire", Indian
actress Freida Pinto is in Israel to shoot for a new film that
focuses on the interwoven lives of Israeli and Palestinian
women from the early years of the state through the early
1990s.

The film, "Miral" by eminent American filmmaker Julian
Schnabel, will be filmed entirely here and the shooting is
scheduled to start next month immediately after the Passover
holidays.

The screenplay has been adopted by Schnabel, of "The
Diving Bell and the Butterfly" fame, from a book by
Palestinian-Italian writer Rula Jebreal who is said to have
helped finalise the script.

Pinto, 24, will be sharing the screen with female lead
Hiam Abbass ("Lemon Tree"), a Palestinian actress who lives in
France.

The film's Israeli producer, Eran Riklis, said that the
casting for the film has not yet been completed.

Following the dizzying success of Slumdog, which took
home eight Oscars and whose worldwide box office receipts so
far are estimated at over USD 270 millions, the Indian model
turned actress' has bagged roles in a number of International
projects including Woody Allen's next flick due to be filmed
this summer in London. She has been cast in the film alongside
Josh Brolin and Anthony Hopkins. PTI HM
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