
The Bride Dress
FILMS
52H 16MIN
This film is available to watch as part of the back to back documentary feature program "Double Doc"
The film tells the wedding story of two Palestinian couples: Lubna and Abdalla, and
Sumoud and Assem. The two brides accidentally rent the same traditional dress which
Lubna wears for her Henna party and Sumoud for her engagement party. The two
weddings are also adversely affected by the Israeli occupation. Unlike other brides,
Sumoud’s joy was tainted by the heartbreak of an incomplete celebration due to the
absence of her husband, Assem, who is a political prisoner in Israeli prisons. Lubna, on
the other hand, was plagued with the uncertainty of her husband and his family receiving
the necessary permit to attend the wedding party in Nazareth, her hometown. The camera
accompanies the two Palestinian weddings, ceremonies, and rituals. Sumoud cannot but
wait for her husband’s release from Israeli prisons; Abdullah is smuggled in the boot of a
car to attend his wedding; and Lubna's parents drive their daughter to the checkpoint to
hand her over to the groom. However, despite the occupation, the wedding ceremonies
are held in Palestinian style, and we watch how love wins over the walls of occupation
and its cement barriers.