Winner of the Brooklyn Film Festival’s Audience Award, “Are You Glad I’m Here” follows a young American woman as she moves to Beirut and befriends her neighbor, a Lebanese housewife. Directed by Lebanese-American filmmaker Noor Gharzeddine, the film effortlessly blends culture and genre, resulting in a spellbinding watch.
Twenty-four-year-old Kirsten (Tess Harrison) has recently moved to Lebanon to teach English. Out of her element, she meets Nadine (Marwa Khalil), the housewife who lives next door. Where Kirsten is animated and outgoing, Nadine is more reserved, especially after years of being married to an alcoholic and abusive husband. But despite their vastly different backgrounds, circumstances, and cultural upbringings, the women connect on a profound level and become close friends. It is this friendship, and the tension of Nadine’s volatile home life that come to a boiling point and cement the pair’s relationship on a level they could have never anticipated.
In her debut feature, Gharzeddine deftly portrays the nuances of the women and their friendship. They are distinct and born of two very different worlds, and neither are reduced to tired stereotypes.
“I want the viewer to feel the difference between Nadine and Kirsten — we see it in age, culture, family life, life experience, etc. but to also always feel like they’re both in the right and to view both women with sympathy and compassion,” Gharzeddine explained in an interview. “We didn’t set out to preach a certain message or tell the story from just one woman’s perspective”
Speaking to her own background, she also commented on the film’s diversity in storytelling, “As a Lebanese American it was also important for me to make a film in Lebanon — a film that bridged two cultures and was easily accessible to both audiences. Because I grew up in a bilingual household I also felt like it was important and natural to make a bilingual film, and it was always something I wanted to do.”
“Are You Glad I’m Here” has been making its way through the festival circuit, screening at festivals such as the Atlanta Film Festival and RiverRun International Film Festival.
Upcoming screening:
Friday, August 3, 2018 – Woods Hole Film Festival – Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Under the Radar is Women and Hollywood’s newest feature. Published monthly, the post offers a chance for us to highlight works by and/or about women that haven’t received big releases or significant coverage in the press, but are wholly worthy of attention.
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