DIRECTOR: Ziad Doueiri
PRODUCERS: Antoun Sehnaoui, Jean Bréhat, Rachid Bouchareb, Julie Gayet, Nadia Turincev
SCREENPLAY: Ziad Doueiri, Joëlle Touma
PHOTOGRAPHY: Tommaso Fiorilli
EDITOR: Dominique Marcombe
PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Hussein Baydoun
COSTUME DESIGNER: Lara Khamis
MUSIC: Éric Neveux
WITH: Adel Karam (Toni), Rita Hayek (Shirine), Kamel El Basha (Yasser), Christine Choueiri (Manal), Camille Salameh (Wajdi Wehbe), Diamand Bou Abboud (Nadine)
FESTIVALS: Venice, Telluride, Toronto, Vancouver 2017; Rotterdam 2018
AWARDS
Audience Award, Sydney Film Festival 2018, 
Nominated, Best Foreign Language Film, Academy Awards 2018

REVIEW

Galvanizing performances and even-handed moral inquiry bring a bracing power to Ziad Doueiri’s Oscar-nominated legal thriller The Insult – the tale of how a bitter feud between a mechanic and a construction foreman snowballs into a national crisis.
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“Two words set the story in motion. One man shouts an insult at another, who’s infuriated and demands an apology… Soon things escalate and the men end up in the first of two courtrooms where they will face off against each other... Does it matter that Toni is a right-wing Christian and Yasser a Palestinian? In this context, it matters a lot…

One can learn a lot about contemporary Lebanon from The Insult, but it’s also possible to go into the film knowing little about the situation depicted and still come away completely captivated. That’s because the conflict at the drama’s center is so personal, visceral and universally recognizable; it could take place in Mississippi, Beijing or Bogota...  As the second trial unfolds, it provokes violent outbursts both inside and outside the courtroom, and sensational media coverage stokes sectarian passions across Lebanon.

​With their combination of personal and political animosities, the film’s highly charged courtroom scenes prove both riveting and revelatory.”

​ — Godfrey Cheshire, RogerEbert.com

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Tauranga     
Tuesday, 16 March, 6:00pm

Whanganui     
Monday, 9 August, 7:00pm
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More MIDDLE-EASTERN CINEMA >>
FURTHER READING:
​Ziad Doueiri Interview: ‘The Insult’ director