Saturday, March 18 / 6:30 pm / ByTowne Cinema
Program: Most of the Time We Are Just Waiting, The Flag
Guest: Molly Shears, director of Most of the Time We Are Just Waiting; Michael Mandarano, producer of Most of the Time We Are Just Waiting
Feature presentation \
The Flag
Alam
2022 / 109 minutes / Palestine
Director: Firas Khoury
Writer: Firas Khoury
Language: Arabic
Subtitles: English
politics \ coming-of-age \ resistance
This extraordinary coming-of-age (in all senses) drama takes place in the context of the historically and politically charged Palestinian experience of contemporary Israel. Seventeen-year-old Tamer and his friends are Palestinians living in Israel – the latest generation of Arab children of families for whom the consequences of the displacements of 1948 are lived daily. Tamer and his buddies are typical high schoolers, though, spending their days looking to get high, get into trouble at school, and flirt with their female classmates. While their hormone-fuelled teenage lives are typical, the complex political situation faced by them and by their parents’ generation is also a constant presence. While some of Tamer’s friends become more politically active, and others just want to keep searching for weed and women, Tamer is smitten by a newly arrived student, Maysaa, a very politicized young woman. Wanting her attention, Tamer begins to educate himself politically and agrees to participate in a potentially dangerous act: to replace the Israeli flag on the school’s roof with a Palestinian one. Their scheme is bold but filled with risk. Stunning. “This intelligent, sensitive treatment of the rarely seen, everyday lives of young Palestinian citizens of Israel marks feature writer-director Firas Khoury as a talent to watch…” Alissa Simon, Variety.
- Tom McSorley
Tamer, un jeune de dix-sept ans, et ses amis sont des Palestiniens qui vivent en Israël – la plus récente génération d’enfants arabes de familles chez qui les conséquences des déplacements de 1948 se font ressentir chaque jour. Tamer et ses amis sont tout de même des élèves du secondaire typiques : ils passent leurs journées à chercher à planer, se mettre dans le pétrin à l’école et draguer les filles dans leurs classes. Bien que les vies d’adolescents carburant aux hormones soient typiques, la situation politique complexe à laquelle eux et la génération de leurs parents sont confrontés est aussi une présence constante. Alors que certains des amis de Tamer commencent à s’impliquer davantage en politique et que d’autres ne veulent toujours que trouver du pot et des femmes, Tamer s’éprend de l’élève nouvellement arrivée, Maysaa, une jeune femme très politisée. Cherchant son attention, Tamer commence à s’éduquer sur la politique et accepte de participer à un geste potentiellement dangereux : remplacer le drapeau d’Israël sur le toit de l’école par celui de la Palestine. Leur complot est intrépide mais rempli de risques. Électrisant.
- Tom McSorley (traduit par Jacinthe Grenier-Albert)
PRESS
AWARDS
Cairo International Film Festival 2022, Audience Award
Cairo International Film Festival 2022, Golden Pyramid
Cairo International Film Festival 2022, Winner of Best Actor (Mahmood Bakri)
Short film \
Most of the Time We Are Just Waiting
2022 / 20 minutes / Ontario
Director: Molly Shears
Set to the backdrop of her suburban town’s evacuation, Thirteen-year-old Nora enlists the help of the boy next door to search for her apathetic big sister, who has snuck out to party with an older boy with questionable intentions.