YASMIN

North American Premiere

UK 2004 | 87mins | 35mm Color

What might have been a standard-issue, EAST IS EAST-style ãyou will bring shame on the familyä generation-clash comedy gets completely twisted around by 9/11 in this lively comedy, written by the author of THE FULL MONTY. When Yasmin (BEND IT LIKE BECKHAMâs Archie Panjabi) is at home in a drab North England mill town, she is a good Muslim girl, one whoâs even married a goatherder from Pakistan to please her traditional father. When she hops into her smart new car and heads for work, however, she changes into western clothes, and flirts with her workmate (and potential boyfriend) John. Their lives are suddenly changed after the events of 9/11; as public paranoia and already simmering racism come to a boil, the sheltered Yasmin (ãWhoâs Osama?,ä she even asks in a broad Yorkshire accent) suddenly catapults from Employee of the Month to Public Enemy of the Month. With armed police crawling around the house, Yasminâs entire family find themselves caught in the crosshairs of a virulent Islam-phobia, and a rising tide of embittered militant Islam. ãYasmin breaks territory few have broached,ä wrote Scotlandâs Sunday Herald after its debut at the Edinburgh Film Festival, ãand does it with a tight, funny script and an exuberance that belies the subject matter.ä

÷Sandip Roy

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