Wajib – The Wedding Invitation
$14.99
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AND DVD. The title of Wajib translates as ‘duty’, and it’s duty that brings architect Shadi (Saleh Bakri) from Rome back to Nazareth, where his sister Amal (Maria Zriek) is to be married. Local tradition dictates that Shadi and his divorced dad, Abu Shadi (Mohammad Bakri), must drive around town delivering wedding invitations
TrailerDescription
Dir. by Annemarie Jacir, Palestine, France, Germany, Colombia, Norway, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, 2017. 96 min | Drama
Writer-director Annemarie Jacir’s multi-award winning comic drama explores the lives of Palestinians living in Israel, and stars real-life father and son Mohammad and Saleh Bakri. The title of Wajib translates as ‘duty’, and it’s duty that brings architect Shadi (Saleh Bakri) from Rome back to Nazareth, where his sister Amal (Maria Zriek) is to be married. Local tradition dictates that Shadi and his divorced dad, Abu Shadi (Mohammad Bakri), must drive around town delivering wedding invitations. Friction is in the air even before the duo clamber into Abu Shadi’s beloved and beaten-up old Volvo. Shadi thinks the exercise is outdated and meaningless. For his father, it’s about maintaining important community rituals. Bakri and son Saleh are terrific and earthily funny as the bickering duo who meet colourful characters on their cross-city travels. A Palestinian born in Bethlehem, raised in Saudi Arabia and educated in New York, Annemarie Jacir (Salt of this Sea, 2008; When I Saw You, 2012) brings a worldly, wise and witty eye to this hugely entertaining and illuminating slice of Palestinian life.
★★★★”WAJIB’S quiet humour and piercing observations are beautifully handled by the director… Nothing seems out of place but the revelations offered by the film into the lives of ordinary Palestinians are suffused with stoic wisdom.” David Stratton Recommends
“beautifully nuanced, slyly political and frequently very funny” Sight & Sound
★★★★“Annemarie Jacir pits tradition against modernity in this bittersweet comedy” The Guardian
★★★★ ”Wry warmth.. yet deeply revelatory”. Sunday Age
★★★★ “This is a most fabulous film from Annemarie Jacir. She’s made a stunner of a film that just builds incrementally the reality of a Palestinian living in Israel. Of course it’s a political film, but it’s done so gently, so compassionately, with powerhouse performances from father and son Saleh and Mohammed.. It’s a voyage of discovery, it’s a portrait of a city, the most densely populated Palestinian city in Israel, and it’s a portrait of father and son. It’s a journey well worth taking.” Margaret Pomeranz, Foxtel Arts Screen
AWARDS & FESTIVALS
* Best Film (Golden Muhr) – Dubai Int. Film Festival
* Best Actor (Golden Muhr) – Dubai Int. Film Festival
* Jury Special Mention – London BFI Film Festival
* Best Film (Golden Unicorn) – Amiens Int. Film Festival
* Audience Award – Amiens Int. Film Festival
* Best Film (Golden Astor) – Mar Del Plata Int. Film Festival
* Best Actor – Mar Del Plata Int. Film Festival
* Best Feature Film – Argentine Film Critics Association, Mar Del Plata
* Best Feature Film – SIGNIS Prize, Mar Del Plata
* Best Film – Int. Film Festival of Kerala
* Youth Jury Award – Locarno Film Festival
* FICC/IFFS Prize – Locarno Film Festival
* ISPEC Cinema Award – Locarno Film Festival
* Jury Prize – MedFilm (Rome)
* Youth Jury Award – Cinemed, Montpellier
* Coup de Coeur Award – Cine Festival en Pays de Fayence
* Best Actor – Festival Int. du Cinema Mediterraneen de Tetouan
* Audience Award – Middle East Now, Florence
* Circle Award – Washington DC Int. Film Festival
* Palestine Official Oscar Entry for Best Foreign Language Film
* Asian Pacific Screen Awards – Nomination, Best Actor
* Best Film – Arab Critics Awards 2018
* Best Screenplay – Arab Critics Awards 2018
* Best Actor – Arab Critics Awards 2018
* Best Film – Festival Cinema d’iDea, Italy
* Best European Film – Prishtina Int. Film Festival (Kosovo)
* Best Film – Casablanca Film Festival, Morocco
* Jury Prize – Oran Film Festival, Algeria
* Best Actor – Oran Film Festival, Algeria
* Best Film – Cinetopia Film Festival
* Best Film – Kranjska Gora Int. Film Festival, Slovenia
* Best Narrative Feature – Mizna Arab Film Festival, Minneapolis
* Best Feature Film – Malmo Arab Film Festival
* Critics Prize – Malmo Arab Film Festival
* Best Performance in a Feature Film to Mohammad Bakri – Jerusalem International Film Festival of Gaza
* Audience Award – International Film Festival of Algeria