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Written and directed by Arab-Israeli filmmaker Tawfik Abu Wael, this powerfully stark debut feature derives much of its strength from its elemental, no-man's land setting, in which a Palestinian family ekes out a precarious living by making charcoal at an abandoned army outpost. Sturdily acted by its mainly non-professional cast, the slow-burning Atash unfolds with a tragic inevitability, pitting an authoritarian father (Hussein Yassin Mahajne) against his defiant teenage son.

Enemy soldiers may be noticeably absent in Atash, yet the spectre of the on-going Arab-Israeli conflict hangs over the characters: there's a reference to land that was confiscated decades earlier, and the youngest daughter Halima makes a decoration out of discarded grenade pins. Wael never reveals the exact reason why the patriarch brought his wife and children to this arid wasteland, only referring to an incident from their past where the eldest female sibling Gamila (Roba Blal) brought "shame" on her relatives.

"RECURRING MOTIFS"

It's actually Abu Shukri's illegal installation of a pipe diverting fresh water to their land that precipitates the family's disintegration, triggering a desire for freedom amongst his offspring. Aided by some impressive Scope cinematography from Assaf Sudry, the director maintains a claustrophobic environment, favouring recurring motifs of entrapment, danger and surveillance. The head of the household is a compelling mass of contradictions, using his brutish physical force to coerce those he loves, and the uncompromising resolution illuminates the way fanaticism gets passed down between the male generations.

In Arabic with English subtitles.