The Shampoo Summit is the shortened version of Women in Sink - a documentary style look into a little hair salon in the heart of the Christian Arab community in Haifa. Director Iris Zaki goes to work as a shampoo girl. As Zaki shampoos the local women chat.

“I had initially set out to make a film about Israeli Arabs, a community which I believe is treated unequally in this country. I never expected that to do that, I would find myself in a hair salon of all places,” says Zaki.

Fifi’s salon, owned by two Christian Arab women and frequented by Jewish and Arab women alike, becomes a representation of Haifa’s political environment. “My hometown, Haifa, in Israel, is very proud of its legacy of peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs. But I think it is more divided than it can seem. For example, as a jew I don’t remember ever chatting with my Arab neighbours growing up,” comments Zaki.  

The wide range of chats to be had through Shampoo Summit bring personality, humour, truth, experience and a variety of stories but the majority of the women seem to agree on one thing “if women were running things here, including the politics, we would have lived in peace with our neighbours ages ago,” as said by a Fifi client.

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