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Lady Kul el Arab
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Lady Kul el Arab
IDFA 2009

Lady Kul el Arab

Ibtisam Mara'ana
Israel
2008
56 min
Festival history

Duah Fares is the first girl from the Druze culture, an Islamic branch living chiefly in Israel, Syria and Lebanon, to participate in the Lady Kul el Arab beauty pageant for Arab women in Israel. Guided by fashion designer Jack Yaakob, she outshines all her rivals, and under her stage name Angelina, she also takes part in the more prestigious Miss Israel contest. Its winner might move on to the worldwide Miss Universe pageant and an international career. But what begins as a fairytale turns to harsh reality when Duah hears that for the Miss Israel contest, she has to walk the catwalk in a swimsuit. This results in death threats to her and her family from their strictly Islamic fellow villagers. As in her previous films and , director Ibtisam Mara'ana focuses on the position of women in the Arab-Israeli world. Like her mother before her, Duah/Angelina is caught between her youthful ambitions and the restrictions imposed on her by the older generation. Nevertheless, the differences between these two generations of liberated women provide a little hope for Duah's younger sister, who is already practicing her model's walk in the background.

Credits
Director
Involved TV Channel
    Channel 8
    Channel 8
World Sales
    Ruth Diskin Films Ltd.
    Ruth Diskin Films Ltd.
Screening copy
    Ruth Diskin Films Ltd.
    Ruth Diskin Films Ltd.