Lady Kul el Arab retrace l’itinéraire d’Angélina, une jeune druze, qui tente sa chance dans l’univers de la mode en rêvant d’une carrière internationale. Elle se trouve confrontée à ses propres contradictions et se sent, en fin de compte, obligée de renoncer, au nom de certaines valeurs culturelles et politiques, à se présenter à la finale du concours alors qu’elle a surmonté avec succès toutes les épreuves préliminaires de sélection. Ibtisam Salh Mara’ana réussit à donner à cette histoire de renoncement une dimension emblématique et esquisse délicatement le portrait émouvant d’une jeune femme, dominée par un ordre colonial et religieux.

 

Duah Fares is the first girl from the Druze culture an Islamic branch living chiefly in Israel, Syria and Lebanon to participate in the Lady kul-el-Arab beauty pageant for Arab women in Israel. Guided by fashion designer Jack Yaakob, she outshines all her rivals, and under her stage name Angelina, she also takes part in the more prestigious Miss Israel contest. Its winner might move on to the worldwide Miss Universe pageant and an international career. But what begins as a fairytale turns to harsh reality when Duah hears that for the Miss Israel contest, she has to walk the catwalk in a swimsuit. This results in death threats to her and her family from their strictly Islamic fellow villagers.
As in her previous films Paradise Lost and Three Times Divorced (2007), director Ibtisam Mara'ana focuses on the position of women in the Arab-Israeli world. Like her mother before her, Duah/Angelina is caught between her youthful ambitions and the restrictions imposed on her by the older generation. Nevertheless, the differences between these two generations of liberated women provide a little hope for Duah's younger sister, who is already practising her model's walk in the background.