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Wajib
Directed by Annemarie Jacir
- Palestine, Colombia, Germany, France, United Emirates, Qatar, and Norway 2017; 96 min
- Original version: Arabic
- Genre: Drama
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- Don Quixote Award, Special Prize, Youth Jury Award - Locarno Festival
- Palestinian submission for the Academy Awards
- Best Fiction Feature, Best Actor (Mohammad Bakri and Saleh Bakri) - Dubai IFF
Toronto IFF
Mar del Plata IFF
Synopsis
Abu Shadi is a divorced father and a school teacher in his mid-60s living in Nazareth. After his daughter’s wedding in one month he will be living alone. Shadi, his architect son, arrives from Rome after years abroad to help his father in hand delivering the wedding invitations as per local Palestinian custom. As the estranged pair spend the day together, the tense details of their relationship come to a head challenging their fragile and very different lives.
Director's Statement
In Palestine, there is a tradition which remains a big part of life today. When someone gets married, the men of the family, usually the father and sons, are expected to personally deliver the wedding invitations to each invitee in person. There is no mailing of invitations, or having them delivered by strangers. And unless the invitations are personally delivered, it is considered disrespectful. I don’t know any other place which adheres to this tradition as much as the Palestinians living in the North of Palestine, where WAJIB is set. WAJIB loosely means «social duty». When my husband sister’s got married, it was his wajib to deliver the invitations with his father. I decided to silently tag along as he and his father spent five days traversing the city and surrounding villages delivering each invitation. As the silent observer, it was at times funny and other times painful. Aspects of that special relationship between father and son, the tensions of a sometimes tested love between them, came out in small ways. I began working on the idea for a film about this fragile relationship.
Production
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PHILISTINE FILMS
International Sales
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PYRAMIDE INTERNATIONAL
Agathe Valentin
