The film Thank You for Banking with Us is a simple but powerful take on a very sensitive issue in Arab and Islamic societies: inheritance law. I was very keen to meet the filmmaker Laila Abbas to talk about her courageous decision to raise this issue through her debut feature film which received El Gouna Star for Best Arab Narrative Film. The film started its journey from El Gouna Film Festival five years ago when it was only a screenplay that participated in the CineGouna when it received three awards.

The 97-minute film is set in Ramallah and it traces the confused relationship between two sisters, Noura and Mariam, who meet in this grey area when their father passes away leaving them a large sum of money in the bank and how they agree to cash the total sum before it is known that their father has died, since otherwise Sharia law will give their estranged brother double what each of them has.

Abbas, who was born and lived all her life in Ramallah, says: “The premise of the film was basically present. I live in an Arab society where women suffer from inequality regarding the law and I personally experienced a situation in my family that was related to inheritance laws. I know that there are people who might think that such issues must not be tackled, but I totally disagree. This kind of issue should be tackled and raised as we in Arab and Muslim societies should witness some changes in some way due to the ongoing changes in the foundation of societies and families that are also changing rapidly. I think we can’t overlook these issues as we need to be honest and courageous with ourselves and our own major issues that should be addressed and keep these debates ongoing.”

The two sisters are Noura (Yasmine Al-Massri), a single woman working as a beauty technician at a famous clinic who has been looking out for their old ill father and is seen as the family liability; and Mariam (Clara Khoury), the distressed mother of two, married to a man who left all the responsibilities to her.

Noura who had been living with her father turned into his caregiver and as she knows that his health is deteriorating by the day, she persuades him to issue a cheque book and  bank card. Since she has been very clever in imitating his signature since her old school days she writes the cheque for $165,000 and signs it. The bank requires phone confirmation from the account holder before the amount can be cashed, however. When Noura brings Mariam into her scheme, Mariam is at first shocked and says no, but her family situation quickly forces her to go along.

The drama unearths layers of conflict as Mariam, who is constantly worrying for her family, walks in one day to tidy up the mess of her young son’s toys to find her elder son Ali (Adam Khattar) watching porn on his phone. She decides to take away the phone. Trapped in an unhappy marriage with a cheating husband just to keep her family intact, Mariam is in a familiar situation.

“As a filmmaker,” Abbas says, “I cannot change the law and I’m not a member of any feminist association nor am I part of any lobbying entities to help raise or change these laws, but I have another tool to raise this big debate which is cinema, I meet a lot of women and as soon as they hear the premise of my film they offer up with various stories about this issue that touches them and resonates with them in so many ways.” Abbas emotionally adds, “For my own case, we are a family of three sisters and my mother, and we have no brothers, but I cannot consider what happened with us fair in any way.”

During one busy night in Ramallah when Noura and Mariam are trying to figure out how to get their father’s money out of the bank, searching for an old male voice to imitate their father’s, they rediscover their old bond. However they are obstructed by patriarchy during their visit to their uncle (Kamel Al-Basha) when he refuses to help them saying that this is against Sharia and dismissing all other complexities.

“I wrote the screenplay of this film a long time ago, long before the war on Gaza had started. It has had a very long journey since 2018, and when I started to write the screenplay I had the intention to write a full and pure Palestinian tale with its heroes and our streets and lives to deepen the characters and understand their realities. I didn’t want the occupation to be part of it because the occupation is occupying our land and our narrative. And that’s why I wanted to tell a pure Palestinian story. Though of course I appreciate filmmakers who make films about the Palestinian issue, which played a key role in changing the narrative all over the world.”

Was she ready to show a film about social issues unrelated to the occupation during the horrific war on Gaza, though? “When I started it didn’t occur to me that things would take this horrific turn – although there were signs – and it’s so hard for me to present a light social film during an ongoing genocide of my people, that is really painful, at certain moments it makes me feel I am out of context, but at the same time this film is the effort of a lot of people who worked hard and poured their energy and time into this project and I tried very hard to postpone it as much as I could, hoping that the war would come to an end. But also postponing it means the film gets old and so does its story.

“So I finally decided that it must see the light and I loved the feedback when it was screened in London and in LA and now with the Egyptian audience in Gouna and all my doubts went away when I saw the film on the big screen with the audience interaction and I felt that presence was as important as absence is important and I’m really not sure what was the right decision. But you mustn’t think I’m sure about the decision, maybe in the future I’ll feel that this wasn’t the right time. I really don’t know.

“We filmed in July and August 2023 and there were signs that the situation was about to explode as it is said in the film and there were a lot of people who were expecting something to happen. Of course no one was expecting that extent of brutality or genocide and people didn’t know when but they were expecting something to happen. After writing the screenplay in 2018 it was a long journey through the different stages of filming and funding and then post-production which began in early October, then the war on Gaza began.”

Before Abbas became a filmmaker, she studied business administration but she says, “I felt the urge to take another track in my life, I always loved tales and loved writing stories and I always had this strong connection with telling a story and I know very well the impact of stories and tales on people and I believe that this is the most beautiful way for people to connect with each other, stories offer a deeper understanding of societies, characters and their backgrounds. So I decided to follow the path of cinema.

“Afterwards I had a really tough time getting a scholarship which finally happened and I studied filmmaking in London. Returning to Ramallah and trying to pursue my dream of making films in the Arab world was really hard still, and I think every filmmaker in the Arab world has been a warrior and has to be really patient, because a filmmaker can easily give up not because they are not talented but due to very harsh circumstances and limited funding and resources, and if your own country isn’t supporting your project then it’s very hard for it to see the light.”

She carries on: “Unfortunately, the film industry in the whole world is a capitalist enterprise and requires huge resources, and that’s why I see Arab filmmakers as orphans and poor as opposed to other filmmakers from other countries who have been offered substantial support and funding and accordingly other entities would be willing to work with them and there is this idea that if your project has a fund then the project is good even if it’s not. Without real conviction from our Arab countries in the significance of culture and cinema, it is really hard to continue as a filmmaker.”

As for her short films, Abbas says, “I made four short films and one documentary, but I don’t like my short films. What I like about them is that I learned a lot from them and I found out I could not narrate my tale in a short film. I prefer to take my time and give my story depth and detail, that makes it more complete and satisfying.”

Abbas’ debut Thank You for Banking with Us had its world premiere at the official competition of the London Film Festival. Ice and Dust (2014) is a 50-minute documentary on the journeys of young Palestinian women to Canada.