IN BETWEEN

Layla, Salma, and Nour live in an apartment in the bustling center of Tel Aviv. Each woman grapples with varying degrees of being “in between” cultures and traditions. Layla is a fierce, chain-smoking lawyer who enjoys the nightlife and has a modern view of the world, which makes her boyfriend Ziad increasingly uncomfortable. Introspective DJ Salma is a lesbian, but she lies and tells her conservative parents, who subject her to futile matchmaking dinners, that she’s a music teacher. Devout Muslim Nour, meanwhile, studies computer science and is engaged to Wissam, a humorless man she tolerates instead of loves. After the latter’s relationship implodes in a vicious manner, it sets off a chain reaction of self-reflection and empowerment that culminates with each woman determining for herself what she’s willing to fight for. IN BETWEEN deftly navigates contentious religious, gender, and ethnic divides. And in the process it provides incisive commentary on how contemporary society reconciles broad differences—and how far we still have to go. (In Hebrew and Arabic with subtitles) —A.Z.