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Logline

1941 – Far away from the barbarity of the War, in Lebanon. Following a Sunday lunch that goes sour, Matile, mother of eleven, imposes her laws on both the General of the French Mandate and the Head of the Church, by shaking the established customs.

Synopsis

Sunday in 1941 – Beirut.

Matile, a mother of eleven, prepares a family lunch to commemorate the death of her husband. The Head of the Church is coming for lunch.

This is the moment when the French army decide to confiscate the house to build military baths. Matile does not tolerate this inappropriate interruption. She refuses and resists…

Trip to Jerusalem is a feature film that questions women’s position in patriarchal society. Unlike other women empowerment films, our project is a dark comedy coming from a conflict-ridden Middle East in which a widowed mother of eleven becomes a supreme leader.

While some of our protagonists are “men of God,” the tone of this film is the opposite of pious. Our comedy is sly, slightly farcical, zany, but grounded in the reality of our characters’ lives.

And yet we are convinced that comedy is the best way to make ourselves heard about subjects that otherwise wouldn’t be.

In our film, Matile is the leader of her household.

A leader in a society where this was an exclusively masculine prerogative, at the time but today still.

There are no giant posters or statues to her effigy. And yet it is this woman, to whom power is forbidden outside of her house, who will supplant the Head of the Church and oppose the General of the French Mandate. She will become a heroine, but she knows that in the world she lives in, there is only space for male heroes…

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Meet the Filmmakers

Zarazir Brothers – Writers/Directors/Producers
In 1989, Gaby came into the world. From his cradle, he stammered at his mom: I need a brother. His mom nodded approvingly.

On a beautiful day in April 1992, his mom delivered Michel.

Having obtained a Master’s degrees from the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA) in Cinema, Gaby and Michel Zarazir are Lebanese filmmakers making their cinema together. They are also scenarists and producers.

Gaby is trying to live 140 years, while Michel does his best to be elected Pope. Comedy, absurdity, and madness…Their original cinema mocks the most serious things.

Nadia Turincev – Co-Producer

Nadia was born in 1970, grew up in Paris and studied anthropology in Nanterre. She has been working in the film industry since she was 16. She first worked as an on-set translator, then for ACE-Ateliers du Cinéma Européen, Europa Cinemas, Le Clubs des Producteurs Européens, the EU’s Media Program, but also at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs’ selection comity.

In July 2007, along with Julie Gayet, she created the production company Rouge International, and has produced more than 23 full-length films selected and awarded in major A category festivals, including Oscar Nominees Faces Places by Agnès Varda & JR and The Insult by Ziad Doueiry. In May 2019, Nadia leaves Rouge and co-founds Easy Riders Films.

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Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.