War and Peace in Vesoul

The small town of Vesoul in eastern France launches an ambitious project - the War and Peace Film Festival - and invites two directors as guests: the Palestinian Elia Suleiman and the Israeli Amos Gitai. The two have apparently been friends for a long time and meet on the train to Vesoul to document the upcoming adventure. A chronicle of embarrassing and amusing situations unfolds: The local press pressures Suleiman to explain his Palestinian identity, Gitai is forced to translate and the directors discover to their great surprise that the mayor of Vesoul, sponsor of the event, belongs to the radical right-wing party. The old friends decide to take the unfortunate circumstances with humor, culminating in a hilarious final scene in which both directors are silenced by the well-meaning curator of the festival because he can't stop underlining their greatness. Gitai, who often appears in his films, shows himself to be more vulnerable than ever. (Jurij Meden)