Happiness Wrapped in a Blanket

After a long night, Bashir returns home from work to find his Jewish girlfriend Karin with an unexpected baby in her arms. “We’re a family now,” she tells him, "and we'll never be apart". Bashir is torn between his will to devotionally support his girlfriend and doing the right thing by returning the baby to his mother, a foreign worker who left her child under the threat of being deported from Israel. A decision is made and the couple sets-out on a runaway journey with the baby wrapped in a blanket. As they escape the police, Bashir does his best to look after and protect both Karin and the baby, but he knows the end is near and every solution will have dire consequence. Being an Arab-Israeli with a Jewish girlfriend makes him the “usual suspect”. In the background of social and political topics such as Arabs, Jews and foreign workers, a tender love story is revealed and a delicate family is formed…

Directed by Yosi Artzi, Happiness Wrapped in a Blanket leans on a strong ensemble — Qais Nashif, Hilla Vidor, Lucy Aharish — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 2014.