Five Saudi women directors are brought together in the shorts omnibus Becoming, a showcase not just for rising local talent but for the changing role of women in Saudi society. Premiering in Cairo and then moving on to the Red Sea, the selection has the usual strengths and weaknesses inherent in all similar portmanteau collections while having the added benefit of acting as a window into a world little seen and hazily imagined from outside. For that alone, and the fact that all the directors are women, Becoming will undoubtedly find welcoming berths at international film festivals.
What programmers need to be careful about though is to avoid taking the all-too familiar “look, they’re regular people!” approach in their presentations, since patronizing cultural dominance is an ugly stance and precisely what film festivals are meant to avoid. Each of the directors are keen to convey the central, expanding role of women in public spaces, and all the shorts reflect the ways women negotiate both traditional female and non-female spaces, physical as well as psychological.
In “Somaya’s Pride,” directed by Noor Alamir, a mother (Reem Al Habib) begins to panic when her daughter goes missing just before her wedding vows. Shot with frequent close-ups that reveal a deserved level of trust between director and the main actress, the short is a classic tale nicely balancing humor with tension as the mother desperately tries to find her daughter and keep the truth from the groom’s bewildered parents.
The second film, “Aldabah,” is far more sober, with director Sara Mesfer more fully in art house mode with an elliptical story of a hairdresser (Lana Komsany) whose relationship with her older daughter (Jana Gomri) is fraught with unspecified friction partly revolving around menstruation and, by implication, the expectations and duties that come with becoming a woman in working class Saudi society. Radiating dissatisfaction and depression, the film gives little away but in its muted tones and charged atmosphere conveys an unsettling picture of a woman widowed or abandoned, trying to keep everything together. An extended scene of the daughter – Gomri is impressive – dyeing her mother’s hair, where each stroke of the brush is loaded with layers of unspoken resentment, is particularly well-done, though overall the short has an over-studied feel.
“Until We See Light” shifts moods with the story of a mother (Swzan Abu Al-Khair) trying to get her son (Sahal Farsi) to school but her car is blocked by an inconsiderate motorist and she can’t get out of the parking lot. Director Fatima Al Banawi makes excellent use of the constricted spaces within the car and immediately outside, constructing the story with a proper understanding of the format and giving a trajectory to the self-contained story that allows for a satisfying emotional arc.
Hind Al Fahhad’s “The Unforgetting Hand” starts strong with Maha (Elham Ali ), a pharmacist from Riyadh hesitantly consulting wizened traditional healer Delayal (Sanaa Bakr Yunis ) in the hopes of becoming pregnant. The professional woman’s skepticism and citified airs are contrasted with Delayal’s cantankerous confidence, and the interplay of these two stubborn women is nicely handled for the first half but then the story becomes over-stretched with an unnecessary twist.
The final film, “A Gathering with the Cosmos,” is the most basic of the five, revolving around an adolescent girl (Touleen Essam) whose colorful, free-thinking aunt (Ghada Aboud) provides her with an alternate view of what it means to be a woman compared with the girl’s ultra-religious mother, who will force her into conservative clothing now that she’s begun to menstruate. The overly strong, uniform lighting and straightforward camera work make this the most basic of the group.
Apart from the welcome opportunity to spotlight five upcoming Saudi directors, Becoming is designed to speak to shared experiences within the Kingdom while communicating, in an unforced manner, the fast-changing pace of Saudi society especially where women are concerned. Women driving is unsurprisingly incorporated in two shorts, not as a loaded plot point but as something now natural; puberty is also a repeated theme. The scarcity of abayas and the normalized way women interact in public and private spaces will be remarked upon by those unfamiliar with the relaxation in recent years of stringent regulations.
Producer: Sarah Elnawasrah
Executive producers: Abdulrahman Khawj, Ali Alsumayin
Production design: Raghad Albarqi, Sara Sharaf, Duha AlHosainy
Editing: Hussam Alsayyed, Bashayer Abdulaziz, Mahmoud Amjad, Almuthana Kutbi, Ziyad Abdulrzaq, Rawan Namngani
Music: Mohammed Nassif, Aziz Salem, Aziz Jan
Sound: Marwan Ghaziri, Rahem Sameh
Production companies: Cinepoetics Pictures (Saudi Arabia), Argon Production (Saudi Arabia), in collaboration with Pilcrow Creative Studio
Somaya’s Pride
Director, script: Noor Alamir
Reem Al Habib, Shahinaz Hasan, Hadeel Ahmed
Cinematography: Ahlam Fadel
Producer: Khloud Kamal
Aldabah
Director, script: Sara Mesfer
Cast: Lana Komsany, Jana Gomri, Refal Abdulgawi
Cinematography: Rawan Namngani
Producer: Ragheed Al Nahdi
Until We See Light
Director, script: Fatima Al Banawi
Cast: Swzan Abu Al-Khair, Sahal Farsi, Tanveer Akhtar
Cinematography: Abobakr Alshibli
Producer: Abdulrahman Fares
The Unforgetting Hand
Director, script: Hind Alfahhad
Cast: Sanaa Bakr Yunis, Elham Ali, Aghader Alsaed
Cinematography: Heyjin Jun
Producer: Hajar Alnaim
A Gathering with the Cosmos
Director, script: Jawaher Alamri
Cast: Ghada Aboud, Touleen Essam, Asma’a Ali
Cinematography: Hussain Abdulsalam AlSadeq
Producer: Nora Alfraikh
World sales: Red Sea International Film Festival Foundation
Venue: Cairo International Film Festival (Horizons of Arab Cinema)
In Arabic
70 minutes