Palestinian life inspires comic film

Palestinian film director Sameh Zoabi set himself a difficult task - making a comedy about relations between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East.

In Man Without a Cellphone, residents of an Arab village in Israel start a campaign against a mobile phone mast put up in their midst by an Israeli phone operator.

But they soon discover that most villagers aren't worried about possible radiation from the mast - all they care about is that it gives them better reception on their mobile phones, and access to the opposite sex.

The film opened this year's Palestine Film Festival in London. Sameh Zoabi told the BBC World Service where his inspiration came from.

Video production by Daniel Gordon. Excerpts from Man Without a Cellphone courtesy of Momento Film.