In Between (2016 film)

In Between
Film poster
Arabicبَر بَحَر

Hebrewלא פה, לא שם[3]
Directed byMaysaloun Hamoud
Written byMaysaloun Hamoud
Produced bySandrine Brauer
Shlomi Elkabetz[4]
CinematographyItay Gross
Edited byLev Golster
Nili Feller
Music byMG Saad
Production
companies
Distributed byAlma Cinema[5]
Release dates
  • 11 September 2016 (2016-09-11) (TIFF)
[1]
[2]
Running time
96 minutes[6]
CountriesPalestine
Israel
France
LanguageArabic
Box office$107.8K (USD)
Shaden Kanboura on the right with Ofra Rimon at the screening of the film In Between at the University of Haifa, 22 May 2017

In Between (Arabic: بَر بَحَر, romanized: Bar Baḥr, lit. 'Land, Sea'; Hebrew: לא פה, לא שם, lit. 'Not Here, Not There') is a 2016 Palestinian-Israeli-French film directed by Maysaloun Hamoud, about three women of Palestinian heritage sharing a flat in Tel Aviv.[7]

Plot

The film depicts three young Israeli-Arab women living in liberal Tel Aviv, their struggles with the rule-bound Arab world, the inequality of Israeli society, and their desire to free themselves.[8]

Cast

  • Mouna Hawa as Layla[9] (or Leila), a criminal defence lawyer originally from Nazareth, whose family is secular Muslim[10]
  • Shaden Kanboura as Nour,[9] a religious Muslim woman studying computer science at Tel Aviv University[11]
  • Sana Jammelieh as Salma,[9] a lesbian DJ from a Christian family[10]
  • Mahmud Shalaby as Ziad,[12] Leila's long-term boyfriend
  • Henry Andrawes as Wissam,[13] Nour's very religious fiancé

Production

Producer Shlomi Elkabetz and writer-director Maysaloun Hamoud brought the project to Jerusalem's "Pitch Point" in 2015, where it won two prizes: the Turkish YAPIMLAB Award and the IFP Award. The film was funded by Israel Film Fund.[14][15][16]

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 98% based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "In Between takes a light yet nuanced approach to dramatizing complex, timely themes, further enriched by outstanding cinematography and powerful performances."[17] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 79 out of 100 from 17 critics.[18]

The film depicted women drinking, smoking and partying, causing outrage in the Muslim community of Israel.[8] The film was declared haram by the mayor of Umm al-Fahm, the conservative Arab home town of the character Nour.[8] A fatwa was issued against the director, Maysaloun Hamoud, who is a Palestinian born in Hungary but now resident in Jaffa.[19]

The film is rated R16 in New Zealand for violence, sexual violence, drug use and offensive language.[citation needed]

Awards and accolades

The film had its world premiere at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival[20] where a jury awarded it the NETPAC Award for World or International Asian Film Premiere.[21]

At the 2016 San Sebastian Film Festival, the film won three awards: the Premio EROSKI de la juventud (Eroski Youth Award), the Premio TVE - Otra Mirada (TVE Another Look Award), and the Premio Sebastiane.[22][23]

At the 2016 Haifa International Film Festival, In Between won the Danny Lerner Award for a Debut Feature Film; additionally, its three principal cast members (Hawa, Jammelieh, and Kanboura) won the Fedeora Award for Artistic Achievement in an Israeli Feature Film.[24]

At the 2017 Ophir Awards, the film had 12 nominations[25] and won for both Best Actress (Shaden Kanboura) and Best Supporting Actress (Mouna Hawa).[26]

References

  1. ^ "TIFF 2016 Official Film Schedule" (PDF). Toronto International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  2. ^ "Bar Bahar - In Between". Haifa International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 29 September 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  3. ^ "Bar Bahar - In Between [programme note]". Haifa International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 28 September 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  4. ^ Goodfellow, Melanie (14 July 2015). "Elkabetz joins Hamoud's Palestinian party girls". Screen Daily. Screen International. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  5. ^ Goodfellow, Melanie (6 September 2016). "Toronto: Alma Cinema takes Palestinian debut 'In Between', scores deals on Sundance hit". Screen Daily. Screen International. Archived from the original on 3 November 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ^ Hamoud, Masyaloun. "In Between (Bar Bahar)". Cineuropa. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  7. ^ Young, Deborah (20 September 2016). "'In Between' ('Bar Bahar'): Film Review / TIFF 2016". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  8. ^ a b c "Israel: Girl power film causes controversy among Israeli Arabs". France 24. 2017-02-06. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  9. ^ a b c Simon, Alissa (17 September 2016). "San Sebastian Film Review: 'In Between' (Bar Bahar)". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  10. ^ a b Royo, Fran (16 September 2016). "Israel represented at San Sebastián with In Between". Cineuropa. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  11. ^ Mobarak, Jared (22 September 2016). "In Between TIFF 2016 Review". The Film Stage. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  12. ^ "Mahmud Shalaby". IMDb. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  13. ^ In Between (2016) - IMDb, retrieved 2023-05-08
  14. ^ Brown, Hannah (25 September 2017). "Despite BDS, Israeli films shown at Toronto Palestinian festival". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 19 April 2018. In Between and Personal Affairs received funding from the Israel Film Fund, which gets its budget from the Israel Ministry of Culture and Sport.
  15. ^ Keslassy, Elsa (19 August 2015). "Locarno: 10 Power Players of Israel's Film Industry". Variety. Penske Business Media.
  16. ^ Goodfellow, Melanie (16 July 2015). "Atia, Hamoud, Shumunov triumph at Jerusalem Pitch Point". Screen Daily. Screen International. Archived from the original on 28 August 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  17. ^ "In Between (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  18. ^ "In Between Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  19. ^ Jones, Emma (3 September 2017). "The female director who was issued a fatwa for her first film". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  20. ^ "In Between [programme note]". Toronto International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 19 November 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  21. ^ Staff (18 September 2016). "Announcing the TIFF '16 Award Winners". Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  22. ^ Hopewell, John; Mayorga, Emilio (24 September 2016). "'I Am Not Madame Bovary' Wins San Sebastian Festival: Complete List of Winners". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  23. ^ "Premios 64 edición. 2016". San Sebastián International Film Festival. Yo Miento Producciones. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  24. ^ "The award winners- Haifa International Film Festival 2016". Haifa International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  25. ^ Brown, Hannah (19 August 2017). "2017 Ophir nominations announced". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 August 2017. The biggest breakout by a newcomer this year was Maysaloun Hamoud's In Between, which received 12 nominations, the second-highest total.
  26. ^ Brown, Hannah; Spiro, Amy (20 September 2017). "Controversial film Foxtrot wins 'Israeli Oscars'". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 15 October 2017.