Genre
Synopsis
In 2010, a team of Israeli and Palestinian teens do the impossible–they united to compete as one joint “Peace Team” at the World Cup in South Africa. There beyond checkpoints and barriers, they discover something their divided world told them was impossible: deep friendship and first love.
NO ONE I KNEW SOMEWHERE chronicles their extraordinary journey, unfolding like a teen romcom defying the odds of one of the world's most intractable conflicts, set against the backdrop of the world's largest sporting event. Picture "Hoop Dreams" meets the real-life "She’s All That," set against "Waltz with Bashir." Spanning over a decade, the feature-length film interweaves two powerful timelines: the euphoria of their time in South Africa, and the sobering reality of returning home to a landscape of occupation, military barriers, and escalating tensions that gradually erodes connections forged during their escape to freedom.
The story centers on two main protagonists: Liron Madar, a shy Israeli girl who chases a deepening crush on her Palestinian teammate–Abed Badareen, a strikingly handsome boy from the West Bank with eyes golden like his skin. The narrative crescendos when their final Shabbat dinner as a team in South Africa erupts into an exuberant mock wedding—made tragically more poignant when juxtaposed against the ultimate rift.
We fast-forward to 2023. Everything comes to a jarring halt. Messages from the team wash over evocative footage from October 7 and the destruction of Palestine that followed. “They are … animals!” types Liron. “So no one I knew somewhere doesn’t interest me anymore...”
NO ONE I KNEW SOMEWHERE explores the profound human cost of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the lens of young people who dared to dream of a different world–one where they could live not only in peace, but as friends. The stakes are profoundly personal yet universally resonant: can human connection survive when the world demands you see each other only as enemies?
Bio
SHILPI GUPTA is an Emmy-award-winning filmmaker and journalist. Her debut film, WHEN THE STORM CAME – a haunting investigation of rape as a tool of war as told through the eyes of Kashmiri survivors – won top awards at festivals across the country, including the Grand Jury Prize in short-filmmaking at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and short-listing for the 2005 Academy Awards.
Known for her acumen with vérité narrative, bringing an unexpected intimacy to even the most global of stories, Gupta's work as an editor and producer in news, films, and docuseries has earned 21 Emmy nominations and 5 wins, screening on platforms such as HBO/MAX, Netflix, VICE, and Disney, profiling intriguing personalities from Kobe Bryant to Martha Stewart to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Most recently, she worked on Bao Nguyen’s The Stringer, which premiered at Sundance and is slated to release on Netflix this fall. She is currently in post-production on her feature-documentary debut, NO ONE I KNEW SOMEWHERE.
Credits
Shruti Ganguly - Associate Producer
Taneisha Berg - Field Producer
Bridget Pickering - South Africa Production Coordinator
David Forbes - South Africa Director of Photography
