Annemarie Jacir – Wajib (Duty) #Locarno70

August 8, 2017

Annemarie Jacir - Wajib (Duty) #Locarno70 fredfilmradio

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PODCAST | Bénédicte Prot interviews Annemarie Jacir, director of the film Wajib (Duty).

Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir tells us more about her third feature Wajib (Duty) – after Salt of This Sea (FIPRESCI Prize Un Certain Regard, Cannes; Palestine’s 2008 Oscars entry) and When I Saw You (Palestine’s 2012 Oscars entry) -, starting with the interesting Palestinian/Mediterranean wedding invitation ritual which is the reason for the day-long father-and-son road trip accross the streets of Nazareth that the film depicts, as the duo visits one by one the homes of their many future guests, and confront each other, and reunite. Jacir talks about eternal Christmas, white lies, and the universal implications of this very touching story. She also describes the dream-related process which led her to cast, to play the father of Saleh Bakri’s character in Wajib (Duty), his real-life father, Mohammad Bakri.

Wajib (Duty): 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.
Starring: Mohammad Bakri, Saleh Bakri, Maria Zreik, Leila Bakri

For the official page of the film on the festival website, click here.

Written by: fredfilmradio

ANNEMARIE JACIR Bénédicte Prot Competition Duty Wajib