A Place for Us

Amar watches guests arrive to his sister Hadia’s wedding in the hotel's grand hall. He nervously shakes hands with people he hasn’t seen in three years. Since his sister had called to invite him, he hopes that he will be accepted as the dutiful brother of the bride. Hadia is shocked that he has come, as the family had not heard from him at all during those three years. Hadia asks her sister Huda to keep an eye on Amar.

Meanwhile, their mother Layla keeps an eye on guests and periodically checks Amar’s face to make sure he’s happy. She is worried that her husband Rafiq will fight with Amar, so she makes Rafiq promise he will not go near their son. Still, she feels immensely proud of the children that she and Rafiq raised together; she is confident the ceremony will go well and that her daughter is marrying a good man.

Before the ceremony starts, Huda summons Amar back to where Hadia is getting ready. The siblings have a restrained but gently teasing conversation about the lies Amar has been telling their father’s old friend and other guests about his career (he’s a painter; no, an ornithologist; and so forth).