In Nazareth, elderly couple Nabila (Saana Shawahdeh) and Salah (Mahmoud Shawahdeh) live a monotonous routine. While Nabila spends her days cooking and watching soap operas, Salah immerses himself in his laptop. Their son Hisham (Ziad Bakri) lives in Stockholm and urges his brother Tarek (Doraid Liddawi) to visit their parents and persuade them to take a trip to Sweden. However, Tarek, who lives in Ramallah, is reluctant because he wants to distance himself from the confines of family life. In Ramallah, their pregnant daughter Samar (Hanan Hillo) is about to give birth and is caring for her grandmother (Jihan Dermelkonian), who has dementia. Her husband George (Amer Hlehel), a mechanic, unexpectedly lands a role in an American film, which gives him the opportunity to see the Mediterranean in Haifa for the first time. The film premiered in 2016 in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival and won several awards, including the Haifa Cultural Fund Award for Best Feature Film at the Haifa International Film Festival, the BNP Paribas Critics' Prize at the Cinemed Film Festival in Montpellier, and the Archie Award for Best First Film at the Philadelphia Film Festival. With a running time of 90 minutes, PERSONAL AFFAIRS offers a humorous yet thoughtful insight into the dynamics of a family navigating between everyday routines and the challenges of political realities.
This bitingly funny episodic film subtly interweaves the conflicts of a Palestinian family with the political realities of the Middle East conflict.
In Nazareth, elderly couple Nabila (Saana Shawahdeh) and Salah (Mahmoud Shawahdeh) live a monotonous routine. While Nabila spends her days cooking and watching soap operas, Salah immerses himself in his laptop. Their son Hisham (Ziad Bakri) lives in Stockholm and urges his brother Tarek (Doraid Liddawi) to visit their parents and persuade them to take a trip to Sweden. However, Tarek, who lives in Ramallah, is reluctant because he wants to distance himself from the confines of family life.
In Ramallah, their pregnant daughter Samar (Hanan Hillo) is about to give birth and is caring for her grandmother (Jihan Dermelkonian), who has dementia. Her husband George (Amer Hlehel), a mechanic, unexpectedly lands a role in an American film, which gives him the opportunity to see the Mediterranean in Haifa for the first time.
The film premiered in 2016 in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival and won several awards, including the Haifa Cultural Fund Award for Best Feature Film at the Haifa International Film Festival, the BNP Paribas Critics' Prize at the Cinemed Film Festival in Montpellier, and the Archie Award for Best First Film at the Philadelphia Film Festival.
With a running time of 90 minutes, PERSONAL AFFAIRS offers a humorous yet thoughtful insight into the dynamics of a family navigating between everyday routines and the challenges of political realities.