Jalla! Jalla!

Colour, 35mm
Sweden, 2000, 88 min
Section: Another View

Synopsis

Jalla! Jalla! Mans and Roro are about 20 years old and the best of friends. Mans is a tall Swede with a shaved head, Roro is the son of Arab immigrants. Roro has long been planning to introduce his Swedish girlfriend to his large family, but he’s a bit afraid of how they’ll react; it’ll happen somehow. Mans and Roro work for the parks department, and it’s their job to rake leaves, clean the duck pond, and to pick up everything doggie pets leave behind. Understandably, they aren’t that thrilled with their jobs, but in spite of this they think life is good and that they’re pretty cool. But one day Mans seems to be having trouble getting it up. Not only does he have to go through a humiliating scene in a sex shop, but his girlfriend even leaves him as a result of his indisposition. Roro is also in a mess – just when he’s made up his mind to introduce his girlfriend to his family, they break the happy news that they’ve found him a Lebanese bride and the marriage is all arranged. . . .

About the director

Josef Fares (b. 1977, Lebanon) moved with his family to Stockholm in 1987. At age 15 he began making amateur films and has directed about 50 in all, including Gangstas ‘n’ Cash (1996), Kajsa och Muhammed (1998), The Filmmakers (1998) and Ordinary Americans (2000). At 21 he was the youngest student ever to be accepted to Stockholm’s Dramatiska Institutet, where he is still studying. In 1999 he began working with the well-known Swedish company Memfis Film on Cool Guys (Colla Killar), and they have also produced his feature debut Jalla! Jalla!, a film which offers a fresh and humorous look at the fate of third world immigrants in Sweden.