Palestinian-Israeli filmmaker Shady Srour has drawn international attention with his mini-series Fadia, which confronts the subject of honour killings while examining wider issues of violence against women and life in a divided society. Featured in Deadline's "Global Breakouts" strand, the show won a trio of awards to a rapturous reception at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, having earlier premiered internationally at Seriencamp. It matters as a hard-hitting piece of drama from a filmmaker working in a difficult climate, tackling a dark and globally relevant topic that many find impossible to contemplate.

Made for the Israeli-Arab language network Makan TV and starring Yara Elham Jarrar, Fadia follows a woman left for dead by her family in the name of honour, rescued by neighbours, who must recover from her trauma and find her voice again. Srour, who lives in Nazareth and has four sisters, undertook extensive research, speaking to survivors with the help of his wife, a social worker. He initially planned a documentary before shifting to a thriller to reach a bigger audience. He stresses that honour killings occur worldwide, not only in the Middle East, and cites theatre and playwrights such as Shakespeare, Ibsen and Beckett — Macbeth in particular — as his key inspiration, aiming to "put a mirror in front of society" amid the realities of Israel since October 7.