Diploma

The situation – as seems only fitting for a story situated in the Middle East conflict – is rather complicated. There's an Israeli settlement in the Palestinian municipality of Hebron, meaning that much like in Northern Ireland the conflicting parties have to live next door to each other.

 

And it's the Jewish holiday of Purim, so there's a curfew for the Palestinians. But the young Muslim woman Ayat is keen to attend her graduation ceremony and collect her diploma. But her 15-year-old brother Sader, who despite being the younger brother nonetheless is the male authority of the household and is to be obeyed, insists on accompanying her. But he's running late, so the curfew is already in full effect. All these circumstances Ayat has to cope with, and it's a tall order. None of it is her fault.

 

Quite a setup for a 25 minute tour de force through the back alleys, over the roofs, through derelict buildings and onto secret paths of a city in turmoil, that director Yaelle Kayam frames with a grainy, shaky documentary-style camera and drains of almost any sound. The effect is a breathtaking feeling of looming threats and being eyewitness to something that could turn horrible any second now.

 

Ayat's drive propels the film forward and at the same time gives it an unusual edge: This a girl having matured into a woman, and finally demanding respect and recognition for it – and whether she will receive her diploma or not, this will indeed be her night of graduation, and she will not take any more hassle from anyone. When her brother acts like the big shot by prohibiting her to wear make-up and then trying to seize control over her social life by way of controlling her mobile phone, she shows him quite drastically who wears the breeches and that she will no longer be his subject.

 

The same thing happens when they run into a checkpoint just moments before reaching their destinations and are being forced to turn back. Once again, this is the last straw. Ayat has done everything she was supposed to do, and now, this one night, she is determined to enjoy herself. So this time it's her who calls the shots and makes the decision of how to proceed. 

 

It is indeed a complicated and rich 25-minute-film writer/director Yaelle Kayam has crafted for her own graduation from film school and for which she's already won a short film award at Cannes last year. The focus of the story is especially interesting, as it is striking that Ayat's primary conflict of liberation is not with the police or the political system but with her brother. When they both sit on a roof at the end, waiting for the Israeli festivities and the night guards to pass, the question of whether they will reach their destination is wide open. But, as has been said before, Ayat's real graduation as a mature and independent woman is the real accomplishment of the night.

 

More informations about The Sam Spiegel Film & Television School, Jerusalem