Award-winning director Mohamed al-Daraji’s The Journey takes on one of the most challenging topics: what pushes someone to become a suicide bomber? Filmed on location in Iraq at the Baghdad Central Train station, the tightly wound drama unfolds around the stoic Sara (newcomer Zahraa Ghandour carries the part with an unforgettable magnetism), who arrives at the bustling locale with a deadly plan. When the fast-talking and suave businessman Salam discovers her intentions, she takes him hostage in the first of several encounters that, over the course of the day, will force Sara to revaluate her plan and, more pressingly, her beliefs.

In a political charged moment, The Journey reminds us that the toll of terrorism is global, refuses simplistic sensationalism, and asks us to consider a way forward out of violence through dialogue.