Ripples of social coercion flow outwards in this tense, cleverly structured Palestinian family drama.

Between two Jewish holidays, a middle-class Arabic-speaking family in Haifa is flung into upheaval. Rami’s Jewish girlfriend Shirley is pregnant, and each blames the other for the vague, ominous threats their intercultural relationship has been attracting. When a car crash puts Rami’s free-spirited sister Fifi in hospital, their mum Hanan decides that a compensation payout could solve the financial problems caused by hapless patriarch Fouad … but a secret in Fifi’s medical history risks her family’s reputation, as well as her promising courtship with straitlaced doctor Walid.

Palestinian director Shandar Copti’s debut film, Ajami (co-directed with Yaron Shani, MIFF 2009), won a Caméra d’Or Special Mention at Cannes, and was later nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Emerging a decade and a half on, Copti’s second feature is worth the wait: it arrives at MIFF after rapturous festival screenings at Venice, where it won Best Screenplay in the festival’s Orizzonti section, as well as Toronto and Rotterdam. In Happy Holidays, Copti consolidates his signature style of intricate, nonlinear, sometimes deliberately perspective-shifting storytelling with non-professional actors. The interdependence of his characters subtly challenges their society’s unequal status quo, serving as a powerful reminder that our happiness depends on everyone’s freedom.

“Needle-sharp … a bravura example of how to deepen understanding by shifting points of view.” – Screen Daily