A Wedding

Noces

STEPHAN STREKER
Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Pakistan, 2016
98 minutes, Color

In Person: Qursum Qasim, global gender specialist managing women's economic empowerment programs in the South Asia and Africa regions (April 27 only)

Wearing a hijab with style is the least of Belgian college student Zahira's challenges. Pregnant by her fellow Muslim boyfriend, she must consider an abortion. The first surprise in this film that takes no attitudes for granted is how Zahira's Pakistani immigrant parents receive the news. The second is what they have planned for her following the procedure: a new role for social media, marriage by Skype. Zahira is having none of it, but she risks losing everything. A Wedding explores the conflicts between tradition and possibility with rare understanding for all concerned. Newcomer Lina El Arabi, as Zahira, more than holds her own alongside veteran Iranian actor Babak Karimi (The Salesman), who portrays with deceptive ease the contradictions her father contains, until he no longer can, and against the intensity of Sébastian Houbani, as her brother Amir, who made the headlines this film is based on.—Judy Bloch

In French, Urdu with English subtitles