22nd Annual European Union Film Festival
Screening Dates
  • December 2, 2019 8:50
Belgium

“A slow-burning, skillfully performed study of family malaise and religious subjugation.”

Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter

Cultural and generational discord drives Belgian writer-director Stephan Streker’s sobering drama, a commanding 2016 festival presence inspired by the true-life ​“honour killing” of a Pakistani teenager in Belgium. Eighteen-year-old college student Zahira (riveting newcomer Lina El Arabi) is the dutiful daughter of Muslim-Pakistani immigrants settled in a Belgian suburb. Her parents’ tolerance of her planned abortion, something she has misgivings about, suggests a loosening of their religious strictures; that is, until they try to force an arranged marriage to a Pakistani man upon her. Torn between her parents’ wishes and a life of her own choosing, Zahira turns to her brother for guidance. Dardenne Bros. mainstay Olivier Gourmet co-stars.

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