WAJIB
Dramedy.
Abu Shadi, 65, is a divorced father and a school teacher 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 to each guest 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.
Wajib loosely means “social duty”. When my husband’s sister got married, it was his wajib to deliver the invitations with his father. I decided to silently tag along as he and his father spent five days traversing the city and surrounding villages delivering each invitation. As the silent observer, it was at times funny and other times painful. Aspects of that special relationship between father and son, the tensions of a sometimes tested love between them, came out in small ways. I began working on the idea for a film about this fragile relationship.
In Palestine, there is a tradition which remains a big part of life today. When someone gets married, the men of the family, usually the father and sons, are expected to personally deliver the wedding invitations to each invitee in person. There is no mailing of invitations, or having them delivered by strangers. And unless the invitations are personally delivered, it is considered disrespectful. I don’t know any other place which adheres to this tradition as much as the Palestinians living in the North of Palestine, where Wajib is set.
Mohammad Bakri, Saleh Bakri, Maria Zreik
Author and Director: Annemarie Jacir
Producer: Ossama Bawardi
Music: Koo Abu Ali
Director of Photography: Antoine Héberlé
Set Design: Nael Kanj
Editor: Jacques Comets
Philistine Films in Co-production with Ape&Bjørn, Ciudad Lunar Producciones,
Klinkerfilm Productions, Snowglobe Films, JBA Production, Cactus World Films, Metafora
Productions, Shortcut Films and Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Youth Jury Award - Locarno Film Festival
FICC/IFFS Prize - Locarno Film Festival
ISPEC Cinema Award - Locarno Film Festival
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
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
Winner 2018 Arab Critics Awards: Best Film, Best Screenplay & Best Actor
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
Audience Award - International Film Festival of Algeria
