HOLY AIR

HOLY AIR

Hawa Moqaddas

Directed by Shady Srour
Israel | 2017 | 81 min | comedy | Arabic, Hebrew, English, French, Italian

Adam is a Christian Arab living in Nazareth – member of a vanishing minority within a minority in the Holy Land and the Middle East. His wife Lamia is a strong, beautiful and progressive Arab woman, who runs a foundation for women’s rights. When Adam hears that Lamia is pregnant and his father falls very ill, he evaluates his life and realizes that he has not achieved much. Despite all his business ideas failing so far, he gives one last try to make it big. And what’s better to sell in the Holy Land other than the very air that Virgin Mary breathed during her annunciation?

But in order to, as one priest tells Adam during confession, bring such product into the market he needs to find allies from the three cultures ruling over Nazareth – the Jewish politicians, the Muslim mafia boss and the Catholic church officials. In a politically unstable world where religion is just another merchandise, can the Holy Air be Adam’s salvation or is it just an illusion?

Cast & Crew

Director: Shady Srour
Screenplay: Shady Srour
Cinematography: Daniel Miller
Editing: Naaman Bishara
Cast: Shady Srour (Adam), Laetitia Eido (Lamia), Shmulik Calderon (Priest Roberto), Tarik Copti (Adam’s Father), Dalia Okal (Widad), Byan Anteer (Mohamed)
Producers: Ilan Moskovitch (Tree M Productions), Shady Srour (Cinema Virgin)

  • Shady Srour
    Shady Srour
    Israel

Festivals & Awards
Jerusalem Film Festival Israeli First Film – FIPRESCI Prize
Tribeca Film Festival
Sydney Film Festival
Israeli Film Festival in Australia
Warsaw Film Festival
International Mediterranean Film Festival
Geneva International Film Festival
FilmFestival Cottbus
Ljubljana International Film Festival
Cinedays Festival
UK Jewish Film Festival
Kerala Film Festival
Bristol Palestine Film Festival in the UK

press quotes

Humor in “Holy Air” is inseparable from its poignancy. Srour’s subtly crafted film unfolds as a memorable and confidently imagined human comedy.
The Hollywood Reporter

Energy and focus. (…) A combination of wry humour and strong sense of place.
Screen International

Shady Srour
Israel

Actor, scriptwriter, director and producer for Cinema, Theatre and tv, and a lecturer at the Open University. He has b.a degree from Tel-Aviv University in Theater acting and m.f.a in filmmaking from the Academy of Art University. Lately Shady was involved in the film 24 HOURS JERUSALEM (ARTE), which won the German tv Award for best midlength documentary 2014. He was the Lead in the Oscar-nominated short film Ave Maria. HOLY AIR is his feature debut as director.

FILMOGRAPHY
2017 Holy Air, feature
2014 24 Hours Jerusalem, Documentary, Palestinian Content Director
2011 Watan A Watar Comedy tv Series
2010 Films from Real life, 10 shorts (project with adults in distress)
2009 Amwash, Comedy Series (10 Episodes)
2007 Either Me or Haifa, short
2005 Sense of Need, short