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North American Premiere

Screening to be followed by a conversation with director and writer Laila Abbas and actress Yasmine Al Massri.

Palestinian filmmaker Laila Abbas’ stellar narrative feature debut is a riveting tale of two sisters unexpectedly reunited in a race against the clock to secure their inheritance under Islamic law. Mariam (Clara Khoury) and Noura (Yasmine Al Massri) lead very different lives in Ramallah – Mariam as a busy mom to two boys with a domineering husband, and Noura as a single young woman defying convention to hold down a full-time job while caring for their ailing father. When their father unexpectedly passes away leaving a large sum of money in the bank, the two sisters must put their differences aside and join forces against Sharia law, according to which their absent brother, as a man, has the right to take the lion’s share of the siblings’ inheritance. Scrambling to hide their father’s death from the authorities while finding a way to withdraw the funds and keep their estranged brother in the dark, Mariam and Noura find the frustrations they have in other areas of their lives coming to the fore, each discovering a newfound confidence to air their grievances and fight back. An inspiring and forthright tale of sisterhood and reconnection in the face of unjust patriarchal systems and oppressive gender dynamics, Abbas’ tightly scripted drama is also filled with unlikely humor, a thriller-like pace and a sharp wit that taps into the contemporary discourse around women’s rights in the Middle East in surprising and non-didactic ways. –Abbie Algar