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Lebanon, 1958. A civil war rages. A young mother and model wife, Layla, spends the summer with her family in a remote village in the Christian mountains. It’s wedding season but her two younger sisters, Eva and Nada, have no desire to follow in Layla’s footsteps by accepting an arranged marriage organized by their father, a broke feudal aristocrat. This summer, an encounter with a French guy and his mother opens Layla’s eyes on her condition as a woman living in a patriarchal society, where female fates are decided by men – fathers, husbands, and even sons. For the first time ever, Layla suddenly stifles.
Born in Lebanon, Carlos Chahine left for France in 1975 because of the war. After obtaining a dental surgery diploma, Carlos enlisted in the ENSAD, (acting session), of the TNS, the National Theater of Strasbourg. He came back to Lebanon after an encounter with the director Ghassan Salhab, acting in three of his movies. In 2008 Carlos wrote, directed and acted in The North Road, his first short film that won several international awards. Since then, Carlos often returns to his homeland where he directed several plays in Beirut in new Arabic/Lebanese translations, God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, Dinner with Friends by Donald Margulies and Illusions by Ivan Viripaev that won the Award of the best Arab play at the Lebanese Theater Festival. He also shot a documentary/essay, Chekhov in Beirut, and a short film, The Gambler’s Son. Mother Valley, his first feature.