The Match Factory Launches ‘The Taste of Apples Is Red’ at Toronto Film Festival (EXCLUSIVE)

Leo Barraclough
·2 min read

The Match Factory will launch sales on the debut film by Ehab Tarabieh, “The Taste of Apples Is Red,” at the Toronto Film Festival, where the film will be premiering in the Discovery section.

Tarabieh’s previous short films have won several prizes, including Best Short Film at Doha Tribeca Festival for “The Forgotten” (2012) and a nomination for a European Academy Award for “Smile and the World Will Smile Back” (2015).

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“The Taste of Apples Is Red” is the first film to deal with the intricacies of the Druze faith. The director grew up in this closed off and secretive community, which separated from Islam and has aspects of Hindu and Greek philosophy. During the civil war in Syria, the Druze, who are spread throughout Syria, Israel and Lebanon, were divided between those who support Assad and those who despise him.

The film is set in the Golan Heights, where the Druze community lives under Israeli control, but their national status is undefined.

It follows Sheikh Kamel, who remembers clearly when his brother Mustafa disappeared during the Arab-Israeli war. Fifty years after the territory became part of Israel, the past catches up with the present when tension at the border rises once again.

In the role of Sheikh Kamel is Makram Koury, an Israeli-Palestinian known for his work in “Spider in the Web” (2019) and “Homeland” (2015), and the brother is played by Tarik Kopty, most known for such films as “Wajib” (2017), “Omar” (2013) and “Lemon Tree” (2008).

“The Taste of Apples Is Red” is produced by Jonathan Doweck and Sol Goodman for Anemos Productions in Israel, in co-production with Michael Weber and Viola Fügen for Match Factory Productions in Germany.

The Match Factory boarded the production at the financing stage. Doweck is a longtime collaborator; their latest works together were “The Operative” (2019), starring Diane Krüger, and the internationally acclaimed “Foxtrot” (2017).

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