Mediterranean Fever

Winner of the Un Certain Regard award for best screenplay at Cannes, this darkly comic feature follows Palestinian Waleed as he battles writer’s block and depression living in a flat in Haifa.

Critically-acclaimed filmmaker Maha Haj touches on issues of masculinity, mental health and the Arab-Israeli conflict as the compromised creative’s world unfurls within the walls of his muted and minimal home. Struggling to get started on a non-existent novel, his interactions with a therapist and his family become increasingly strained as he falls deeper into the stranglehold of mental illness.

Repelled by outside interaction, Waleed’s attempts at isolation shatter with the arrival of a new neighbour, who disrupts his controlled world and forces him out of his shell. Loud and boisterous to the writer’s quiet introspection, the pair form an unlikely friendship. But as Waleed gets drawn into his newfound friend’s world of petty criminality, the motivation behind the burgeoning relationship is not all it seems and raises the question of who is manipulating whom. As tensions heighten between the pair, a hunting trip takes an unexpected and tragic turn.

– Justine Maybank