The Insult

  • 113'
  • France
  • 2017

It all starts so low-key. Some water leaks from Toni's balcony onto the contractor Yasser. He says something about it and Toni curses back. An ordinary quarrel like so many, every day. But this is Beirut, and Toni and Yasser stand on different sides of a deep political, cultural and religious rift.

As a result, their personal feud quickly escalates into a national commotion. Hot-tempered Toni is a Christian, from a group that feels increasingly threatened in today’s Lebanon. Yasser is a Palestinian refugee. Both feel personally hurt by the insults the other throws at them. The two are forced to face up to their deep-rooted prejudice.
Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri shot his previous film, The Attack, in Israel – and this also resulted in a furore in his homeland. This time he aims his arrows at Lebanon itself, where the old wounds of the Civil War that ended in 1990 are ignored but in fact are still painfully open.

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year.

 

 
  • 113'
  • France
  • 2017
Director
Ziad Doueiri
Countries of production
France, Lebanon
Year
2017
Festival Edition
IFFR 2018
Length
113'
Medium
DCP
Original title
L'insulte
Language
Arabic
Producers
Jean Bréhat / 3B Productions, Rachid Bouchareb / 3B Productions, Antoun Sehnaoui, Charles S. Cohen, Julie Gayet / Rouge International, Nadia Turincev / Rouge International
Production Companies
3B Productions, Ezekiel Films Limited, Tessalit Productions, Rouge International
Sales
Indie Sales
Screenplay
Ziad Doueiri, Joëlle Touma
Cinematography
Tommaso Fiorilli
Editor
Dominique Marcombe
Production Design
Hussein Baydoun
Sound Design
Guilhem Donzel, Olivier Walczak, Sebastien Wera, Bruno Mercere
Music
Éric Neveux
Cast
Adel Karam, Kamel El Basha, Camille Salameh, Diamand Abou Abboud, Rita Hayek, Alal El Jurdi, Christine Choueiri
Local Distributor
Cinéart Netherlands
Director
Ziad Doueiri
Countries of production
France, Lebanon
Year
2017
Festival Edition
IFFR 2018
Length
113'
Medium
DCP
Original title
L'insulte
Language
Arabic
Producers
Jean Bréhat / 3B Productions, Rachid Bouchareb / 3B Productions, Antoun Sehnaoui, Charles S. Cohen, Julie Gayet / Rouge International, Nadia Turincev / Rouge International
Production Companies
3B Productions, Ezekiel Films Limited, Tessalit Productions, Rouge International
Sales
Indie Sales
Screenplay
Ziad Doueiri, Joëlle Touma
Cinematography
Tommaso Fiorilli
Editor
Dominique Marcombe
Production Design
Hussein Baydoun
Sound Design
Guilhem Donzel, Olivier Walczak, Sebastien Wera, Bruno Mercere
Music
Éric Neveux
Cast
Adel Karam, Kamel El Basha, Camille Salameh, Diamand Abou Abboud, Rita Hayek, Alal El Jurdi, Christine Choueiri
Local Distributor
Cinéart Netherlands

Programme IFFR 2018

Limelight

Avant-premieres of some of the cinematic highlights of the year: international award-winners and festival favourites that will be released in Dutch cinemas after IFFR.

Read more about this programme