Rana's Wedding

Rana's father leaves in the morning and leaves behind a list: either marry one of these men by four o'clock or come with me to Egypt. Rana knows who she wants, and he is not on the list. The film follows a woman trying to find someone who can register a marriage in Jerusalem in a single day. The subject is not the wedding but distance. Everywhere Rana has to go sits behind a checkpoint; the city is a few kilometres across and takes hours. The political situation is never explained, only felt as travel time. The form moves between comedy and tension. The camera runs after Rana, most scenes were shot in real streets, and what appears in the background was not staged. It is one of Hany Abu-Assad's early works, made before the attention he would later receive for Paradise Now and Omar. It was produced with Palestinian, Dutch and Emirati partners, and filming was carried out beside real checkpoints. Clara Khoury plays Rana and Khalifa Natour the man she loves. Who it is for: viewers who like Palestinian cinema and political films told through daily life. Who it is not for: anyone waiting for the history of the conflict; the film explains nothing and expects you to bring the context yourself.