ACF Asian Cinema Fund

Script Development Fund

2015

2015 Script Development Fund

LIST Wajib
Category Asian Project
Project Wajib
Director Annemarie JACIR
Country Palestine
Director's Profile Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir has written, directed and produced sixteen films. She is one of Filmmaker′s 25 New Faces of Independent Cinema and Variety′s "Arab New Wave". Two of her films have premiered as Official Selections at the Cannes International Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival. Her latest film, When I Saw You won Best Asian Film at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival, Best Arab Film in Abu Dhabi International Film Festival and Best Film in Amiens International Film Festival and Phoenix International Film Festival. Founder of Philistine Films, Jacir teaches screenwriting and works as an editor and film curator, actively promoting independent cinema, training and working with fellow filmmakers.
Synopsis
Shadi’s sister is getting married and it is his responsibility to join his father in delivering wedding invitations to all the guests in their hometown of Nazareth. He has spent the last several years of his life in Italy, there is very little he misses or appreciates about the hometown he left so many years ago due to his teenage “political” activities.
His father, Abu Shadi, lives alone with his daughter and carries all the responsibilities of caring for his two children. His wife left him a few years earlier. His son Shadi lives abroad, but he still cares very much for him and awaits the day he will return home. He feels especially anxious now that his daughter is getting married because he will truly be alone in the house after that.
The twists and turns of their relationship unfold as the pair drive around Nazareth. Wajib takes place over the course of one day. They travel house to house, dropping off wedding invitations to various friends and relatives of all different classes. Shadi finds the place he has left behind has changed significantly. But more than rediscovering his city, Shadi rediscovers his own father, and vice versa.
Director's Note
The men of the family are expected to personally deliver wedding invitations to each wedding invitee in Nazareth. There is no mailing of invitations or having them delivered by strangers. It is considered disrespectful not to personally deliver invitations. It is your “wajib” or “duty”. I don’t know any other place which adheres to this tradition as much as the Palestinians living in North of Palestine, where Wajib takes place.
Wajib explores the dance between father and son; a dance that is ripe with unspoken emotion, humor, repressed anger, and unwavering love. I feel this relationship is often overlooked, and sometimes father and son do not always know how express themselves. I like the idea of putting two grown men together that have so much unspoken distance between them. In silence there is tension.
Festivals
2017 Amiens International Film Festival - Audience Award(Best Film), Golden Award(Best Film)
2017 Argentine Film Critics Association - Best Feature Film
2017 Asia Pacific Screen Awards
2017 CPH PIX Film Festival
2017 Dubai International Film Festival - Muhr Award(Best Fiction Feature, Best Actor)
2017 Filmfest Hamburg
2017 Kerala International Film Festival - Golden Crow Pheasant(Best Film)
2017 Ljubljana International Film Festival
2017 Locarno International Film Festival - Don Quixote Award, Youth Jury Award(Environment Is Quality of Life), Special Prize(Best Film, ISPEC Cinema Award)
2017 London Film Festival - Best Film(Honourable Mention)
2017 Mar del Plata Film Festival - ACCA Jury Prize(Best Film), Best Film, Best Actor, SIGNIS Award
2017 Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival - Youth Audience Award(Best Film)
2017 Thessaloniki International Film Festival
2017 Toronto International Film Festival
2018 Arab Film Festival
2018 Adelaide Film Festival
2018 Cannes Film Festival - Arab Critic Award(Best Actor)
2018 Casablanca Film Festival - Best Film
2018 Cinetopia Film Festival - Festival Director′s Award(Foreign Narrative)
2018 Cyprus Film Days International Festival
2018 Bath Film Festival
2018 Goteborg Film Festival
2018 International Film Festival in Punta del Este - Coup de Coeur Award
2018 International Film Festival Rotterdam
2018 Istanbul International Film Festival
2018 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
2018 Mediterranean Film Festival - Jury Prize
2018 Melbourne International Film Festival
2018 Miami Film Festival
2018 Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Film Festival
2018 Odesa International Film Festival
2018 Oran Internatinal Arabic Film Festival - Jury Prize, Best Actor
2018 Palm Springs International Film Festival
2018 Prichtina International Film Festival - Best Film
2018 Portland International Film Festival
2018 San Francisco International Film Festival
2018 Seattle International Film Festival
2018 Sydney Film Festival
2018 Filmfest DC - Washington, DC International Film Festival - Circle Award
2018 Women International Film Festival(Cinema d′iDEA) - Best Film
Still Cut
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