Huda's Salon

A visit to Huda’s salon in Bethlehem should give Reem a welcome break from her controlling husband. But Reem’s trusted friend Huda is not all she seems. In astonishing scenes based on real events, Reem is blackmailed into becoming an informant for Israel’s internal security service. Reem risks shame, and much worse, if she doesn’t co-operate. Abu-Assad’s gripping drama makes a powerful statement about the oppression of women in occupied Palestine. As Huda remarks under interrogation by Palestinian security agents: “It’s easier to occupy a society that’s already repressing itself.” Maisa Ebd Elhadi (3000 Nights, SFF 2015) and Manal Awad give knockout performances as women caught in a conflict with no end in sight.