In partnership with The Garden Cinema and Mydylarama, MENA Arts UK are proud to present their first cinema screening of short films, showcasing the work of their membership.
MENA Arts UK is a UK-based organisation for professionals who work in the arts and are connected to the Middle East, North Africa or the surrounding area.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers to discuss their work, as well as filmmaking in the MENA region and amongst the diaspora.
The films to be screened are:
Leila’s Blues - Fateme Ahmadi (writer/director), 15 mins
A universal tale of empowerment, depicting a woman's journey to take control of her life, body, and choices amid an impossible situation.
Bahar - Maryam Hamidi (writer/director), 15 mins
Long after her death, a lonely widow’s home is infested by the mouldy manifestation of her dead daughter’s spirit, but when her son returns from university, she’s forced to choose between the living and the dead.
Rise - Yasaman Mohsani (lead role), 11 mins
Inspired by real life accounts of Iranian refugees, we see Niloo, a teenage girl resisting the patriarchal ‘morality police’ who kidnap her from the streets of Tehran.
The Record - Hannah Khalil (writer), 5 mins
Two girls try and break a world record.
Lydia by Anita Lewton-Moukkes (writer/director), 12 mins
A young Kabyle bride arrives to join her husband, but is France the place of her dreams?