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Abdullah, or Ap, as he is known to most people, is the son of Moroccan parents. This twentyyear- old Dutch lad doesn’t really know what to do with his life. What he really wants is to be an Arabian Hollywood star – of all the films the Americans are bound to make in the wake of 9/11. He and his Moroccan and Dutch friends all dream of a bright future, full of wealth and happiness. If the truth be known, however, none of them have the slightest prospects of a real career. Ap doesn’t think too much of his family. His eldest brother is a police officer and embodies just about everything that Ap hates about Dutch society. An office job that his brother arranges for Ap ends in disaster largely thanks to the latent racism of his blunt new boss; shortly afterwards, Ap joins a group of friends planning to rob a bank. But the raid is a fiasco and Ap only just manages to escape the police by the skin of his teeth. Perhaps he’ll find some kind of support and direction in life by following the family’s traditions? Promisi   his father that he will marry a Moroccan girl, Ap also takes up a job working for a traditional Muslim butcher. He sets off for Morocco in search of a bride and, before long, wedding plans are well under way. It looks as though Ap might be heading for a bright and secure future. But then, things begin to go awry…

Albert ter Heerdt displays a fine sense of humour in his breathless comedy about second generation immigrant children caught between Islamic traditions and cultural change.*

Humorous dialogue, character vitality and tight plot turn the film into a sparkling comedy. But one that also has a serious story to tell about cultural differences, tradition and change, about fighting spirit and deceit, acceptance and rejection, love and hate. SHOUF SHOUF HABIBI! is a universal story about dreamers looking for themselves, people in search of identity in a complex world. Against the background of life in an underprivileged big-city neighbourhood, that provides comic and hilarious but also painful, tender and harsh moments.