Alcohol, drugs and lesbianism: Arab Israeli film faces backlash

Jerusalem

THE culture clash in Bar Bahar starts off when Nur, a veiled and conservative Muslim, moves into a flat with two other Arab Israeli women and sees their drug-taking, party-going lives.

But for its director, the real shock of the film, which opened last month in Israel, has been the controversy it has whipped up, even death threats on social media. Maysaloun Hamoud, herself an Arab, always hoped her first feature film would hit hard.