Catalogue

Wajib – The Wedding Invitation

(M) 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 Shadi thinks the exercise is outdated and meaningless.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.

Wednesday, May 9

(M) Dir. Vahid Jalilvand, Iran, 2015. 102 min | Drama
Why would someone give money away? What sort of consolation can that offer? On May 9, Jayal Ashtiyani, a teacher, has offered to provide a significant sum of money to a worthy person in need. His advertisement in the local Tehran newspaper has encouraged people to come to his office and make a convincing appeal. But how will he, and the police, deal with the throngs of needy candidates who assemble? How does he decide who’s actually the most worthy?