''Personal Affairs'' ( he, עניינים אישיים, ar, Omor Shakhsiya) is a 2016 Israeli
drama film, the directorial debut of Nazareth-born Palestinian
Maha Haj
Maha Haj (Arabic: مها حاج; born in 1970) is an Israeli-born Palestinian film director and screenwriter.
Life and career
Haj was born in Nazareth, Israel. She was educated in the Baptist Christian school in Nazareth, though both her pare ...
.
It was screened in the
Un Certain Regard section at the
2016 Cannes Film Festival
The 69th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian director George Miller was the President of the Jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies. On 15 Marc ...
.
Plot
The members of a Palestinian family are dispersed between Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, and Europe. The elderly parents live in
Nazareth
Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...
. The husband, Salah, keeps occupied with his laptop computer and does not interact with his wife, Nabila, who occupies her time with cooking, knitting and watching television soap operas. "She can barely bring herself to acknowledge her husband’s presence, much to his irritation. Nor can she muster much enthusiasm for joining him on a getaway to Sweden to visit their son Hisham".
In Ramallah, Samar, Nabila and Salah's pregnant daughter, cares for Granny, whose dotage is punctuated by brief moments of reflection. Meanwhile, Samar's husband, George, a mechanic, finds himself cast in an American movie after visiting filmmakers turn up at his garage. The opportunity affords him permission to go to Haifa — where he sees the Mediterranean for the first time.
Another son, Hisham, has relocated to Stockholm, putting himself at an even greater remove from his family and origins. He pressures Tariq, his brother, to visit their parents and convince them to take a trip to Sweden to see him. Tariq states that he moved to Ramallah to get away from the parents and their unhappiness, but agrees to a short visit. Back in Ramallah, Samar is critical of his unwillingness to marry and settle down.
"Between check-points and dreams, frivolity and politics, some want to leave, others want to stay but all have personal affairs to resolve."
Cast
* Amer Hlehel as George
* Doraid Liddawi as Tareq
* Zidane Awad as Saeed
* Mahmoud Shawahdeh as Salah
* Saana Shawahdeh as Nabila
* Maisa Abd Elhadi as Maisa
* Hanan Hillo as Samar
*
Ziad Bakri as Hisham
* Jihan Dermelkonian as the grandmother
Awards and nominations
* October 2016:
Haifa International Film Festival: the Haifa Cultural Fund Award for Best Feature Film (the festival's top prize), award of NIS 100,000
* October 2016: 38th
Cinemed Film Festival in
Montpellier
Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...
:
BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas is a French international banking group, founded in 2000 from the merger between Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. The full name of the grou ...
Critics' Prize, award of 2,000 Euro
* October 2016:
Philadelphia Film Festival: the Archie Award for Best First Feature
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Personal Affairs
2016 films
2016 drama films
2016 directorial debut films
Israeli drama films
2010s Arabic-language films
2010s Hebrew-language films
2016 multilingual films
Israeli multilingual films