Happy Holidays (LUXFILMFEST)

Scandar COPTI, 123 min, 2024 - France, Germany, Italy, Palestine, Qatar
Four intersecting lives navigate Israel and its attendant complications: Rami, a Palestinian, discovers that his Jewish girlfriend, Shirley, is pregnant; Hanan, his mother, becomes embroiled in a financial crisis; Miri tries to undermine Shirley’s pregnancy; and Hanan’s daughter Fifi guards a secret from a new romantic interest.
An ensemble piece that explores the dynamics of family life against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Sequenced around four chapters, Happy Holidays is a nuanced look at the larger forces—be they religion, politics, or patriarchy—which influence the direction of individual lives...