Huda's Salon
It all seems so mundane: Palestinian Reem visits Huda's hair salon in Bethlehem to get her hair done. While getting her hair cut, Reem talks about her newborn daughter and her rather jealous husband Yousef. But suddenly Reem loses consciousness; she has been drugged. She is dragged to a back room and stripped down, after which compromising photos are taken of her and a naked man. When she regains consciousness, Huda presents her with a choice: either she works as an informant for the Israeli secret service, or Yousef is sent the photos. But the Palestinian secret service does not sit still either; agent Hasan has Huda in his sights.
The Dutch-Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad, who already has two Oscar nominations to his name (for Paradise Now and Omar), has made an exciting political drama about blackmail, betrayal and self-preservation with this new film, written by himself. With Maisa Abd Elhadi, Manal Awad and Ali Suliman.