Film screening: WAJIB

Sunday, 14 October 2018 4:00 pm 16:00
Thursday, 18 October 2018 6:00 pm 18:00

Mercury Cinema 13 Morphett Street Adelaide, SA, 5000 Australia (map)

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Adelaide Film Festival

Wajib

Adelaide, SA

DIRECTOR Annemarie Jacir

Columbia, France, Germany, Norway, Palestine, Qatar, United Arab Emirates | 96 mins | 2017 | Arabic with English subtitles

It is rare to find films so richly awarded as this. Annemarie Jacir has crafted a beautifully simple and delightfully humourous tale about a father and son who spend the day driving around the Palestinian town of Nazareth hand-delivering wedding invitations. Abu Shaadi is a schoolteacher and pragmatist who has learned to live with the frustrations of occupation, and who understands that life is a test of resilience. His son, Sahdi, has been living in Rome and rages against the injustice and ineptitude he sees everywhere. Join them for a day of criss-crossing the city in their battered old Volvo. It's a day of encounters and debates, where generations butt heads and the bonds of family and community will be tested. Saleh Bakri and his real-life son Mohammad are great company in Jacir's wise and witty winner.

“an intimate, well-played disquisition on what it means to be a Palestinian abroad versus a Palestinian at home…Wajib has a well-written climax that makes it come alive. (Variety)
"Jacir's strong suits are as a scriptwriter and as a director of actors. She crafts lively, believable dialogue throughout, shot through with a likable streak of earthy humour, providing nuanced characterizations for the Bakris to convincingly inhabit." (The Hollywood Reporter)

Arab Film Focus at ADL Film Fest 2018 has received grant funding from the Council for Australian-Arab Relations of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Held in conjunction with the 2018 Palestinian Film Festival.