Atash

Star Review

The winner of the FIPRESCI prize at Cannes, Atash is a surprisingly assured debut from young Palestinian director Tawfik Abu Wael. Although made in Palestine, it refers only obliquely to the Israel conflict, instead focusing its attention on a family, lead by a stern patriarch, who have been uprooted from their former dwellings and live in squalor in a dusty no man's land. It gradually becomes clear that this is an involuntary exile, as past events come back to haunt the family's new life, whilst the father's decision to lay down a water pipeline triggers a significant shift in the family's relationships.
"Atash" literally means "thirst", a theme that applies to far more than the need for water; Wael ruminates on the thirst for change, the thirst for freedom and the thirst for happiness, but the metaphor is never forced, and the film's ending confounds expectations. This debut is daringly slow-paced, but those willing to adjust to its unhurried rhythms will be rewarded - Wael’s use of ambiguity creates a poetic piece of work, and permits the audience to draw their own conclusions.

Alex Davidson on 15th August 2006

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Film Description

A family of five, their two goats and donkey live in the middle of nowhere far from their village home. They earn meagre living by producing and selling charcoal, made from the surrounding trees. The father and son are the only ones who ever return to their native village. One day the father illegally diverts water onto their land and re-awakens a desire for freedom in the women that they have been repressing all these years.

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DVD Extras

• Trailer
• Stills Gallery
• Short Film By Wael - "Diary Of A Male Whore"
• Interview With Director.

Film Details

Technical Details