Critics have described The Attack as important and well made – but you won’t be able to see it in most of the Arab world. Tom Brook finds out why.
This week the Jerusalem Film Festival will show The Attack – a film that has been boycotted by more than 20 Arab countries. Its Lebanese director says it’s because he filmed in Israel with Israeli actors.
The Attack tells the story of a well-established Arab-Israeli surgeon in Tel Aviv who discovers, much to his extreme horror, that his wealthy middle-class wife is a suicide bomber.
The movie was originally given a screening permit by the Lebanese authorities. It was subsequently revoked because, by filming his picture in Israel with Israeli actors, he had violated a 1955 Lebanese Anti-Israel Boycott Law. In May the Arab League asked its member countries to join the boycott.
Talking Movies hears from filmmaker Ziad Doueiri and supporters of the ban.
