Hot Water
Ramzi Bashour’s poignant road movie depicts an anxious mother transporting her delinquent son from Indiana to California and highlights the glories of the American Midwest while unpacking the dynamics of parenting and letting go. With Dale Dickey and Lubna Azabal.
Description
Ramzi Bashour’s poignant road movie depicts an anxious mother transporting her delinquent son from Indiana to California, highlighting the glories of the American Midwest while unpacking the dynamics of parenting and letting go. Layal (Lubna Azabal, radiant) is a tightly wound Lebanese American who teaches Arabic to hapless students. While listening to a meditation program, she learns that 19-year-old Daniel suffered a concussion brawling after a hockey game. At her wits’ end, she demands that her ex-husband take the boy in, with Layal agreeing to transport Daniel across the country. Along the way, Bashour captures the vast beauty of the American landscape and the quirky characters they meet—including the free-spirited Sasha (Dale Dickey) and a frustrated hitchhiker (Max Walker-Silverman, Rebuilding, Festival 2024). Through shared challenges and unexpected encounters, mother and son gradually learn to accept one another’s foibles and embrace a new chapter of their lives. —Rod Armstrong
Biographies
Ramzi Bashour was born in Saudi Arabia, raised in Beirut, Lebanon, and now makes his home in New York. He previously made the short films No One Gets Out of Here Alive (2016) and The Trees (2021), for which he won a Special Jury Prize at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Hot Water is his debut feature.
