The dark comedy, conceived before the Covid pandemic, is set against the backdrop of mass panic when a mutant virus known as ARS breaks out in Israel.
British-Palestinian film A Gaza Weekend, directed by Basil Khalil, has won the Toronto International Film Festival’s Fipresci Prize.
The Fipresci prize was decided by five international critics – Andrea Crozzoli (Italy), Márcio Sallem (Brazil), Max Borg (Switzerland), Andrew Kendall (Guyana) and Marriska Fernandes (Canada) – and is awarded by the International Federation of Film Critics.
The film revolves around an Englishman and his Israeli partner, a wealthy couple, who find themselves stranded in Israel when a virus known as ARS breaks out. Their only hope of escape is to smuggle themselves into the Gaza Strip, which, owing to the separation wall, is known as “the safest place in the world”.
Mangan plays a bumbling Englishman opposite Hawa as his uptight Israeli partner. After their attempts to flee Israel by conventional routes fail, the well-heeled couple pay a Palestinian hustler to smuggle them into the densely populated Palestinian enclave.
UK actor Stephen Mangan co-stars opposite Palestinian actress Mouna Hawa, best-known internationally for Maysaloun Hamoud’s 2016 festival breakout and TIFF Netpac award winner In Between.
The cast also features rising Palestinian talents Adam Bakri (Official Secrets) and Maria Zreik (The Translator)
In a statement, the Fipresci jury said: “Basil Khalil’s direction finds space for the more sorrowful, more tender moments of interpersonal crises even as he deftly escalates the bawdy humour on display, capturing the nature of survival as a very serious and very funny business for these characters.”
The production, which reunites Khalil with many of the cast and crew of his 2016 Oscar-nominated short film Ave Maria, began its shoot in Israel on the eve of the Covid pandemic in early 2020.
Basil Khalil’s previous short film, Ave Maria, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film in 2016.
The feature is lead produced by Amina Dasmal at Alcove Entertainment. Protagonist Pictures handles international sales.
