Info
Logline
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is condensed into a thriller that impressively conveys the pain felt by both sides.
Reem is a young Palestinian mother living in Bethlehem. Her appointment at Huda’s hair salon takes an unexpected turn when Huda blackmails her into working for Israeli intelligence. While Reem gets into arguments with her jealous husband and feels ever more threatened by outside forces, Huda is captured by Palestinian resistance fighters and interrogated by their leader. Is there a way out for the two women?
Meet the director
Hany Abu-Assad
Hany Abu-Assad, born in Nazareth in 1961, was an aircraft engineer in the Netherlands before he turned to filmmaking. He has since directed several award-winning films, including PARADISE NOW (2006), which received a Golden Globe for best foreign-language film and was the first Palestinian film to be nominated for an Academy Award. It was followed by the US action film THE COURIER (2012), starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Mickey Rourke, and OMAR (2013), which had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, where it received the Jury Prize. OMAR was also nominated for an Oscar and named best film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Following the biopic THE IDOL (2015), Abu-Assad directed THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US (2017), a survival thriller starring Kate Winslet and Idris Elba. HUDA’S SALON (2021) is his latest feature film.