The Source (2011)

Director Radu Mihaileanu

Romanian-born filmmaker Radu Mihaileanu (The Concert) offers up another certifiably crowd-pleasing slice of world cinema in The Source, a modern-day fable exploring female empowerment in the Arab world.

Set in the remote village of Maghreb, the long-suffering women toil away whilst the men folk claim their patriarchal right to lounge around drinking tea and playing cards. Young wife Leila (rising star Leïla Bekhti, All that Glitters), an outsider from the more easygoing south, is concerned by the number of accidents occurring on the steep mountain path the femmes tread each day to fetch water. Supported by her feisty widowed neighbour and free-thinking schoolteacher husband Sami (Saleh Bakri, The Band's Visit), Leila proposes the women launch a love strike: no more cuddling and no more sex until the men bring running water to the village. - Independent Cinema Office