Disapproval persists after death in Our Males and Females.
Ahmad Alyaseer’s film tells the story of a young transgender woman over whose body her two confused parents grieve. Unable to accept the gender reassignment that she was undergoing while living abroad, they find themselves unable to clean her body and that neither male nor female washers are willing to aid them. It’s a moment of perfect dramatic tension, that makes it ideal for a succinct short film that is limited in scale, but far more significant in scope of its emotional resonance.
The quandary they face is evident straightway as the father (Kamel El Basha) and mother (Shafeqa Al-Tal) keep referring to their “son” and “him.” It’s unclear whether they were completely unaware of the struggle their transgender daughter had been through – she was living abroad – or just found it unconscionable, but they certainly can’t accept it now. As they try to prepare her body for cleansing and shrouding before burial, they are incapable of even looking at her. They try first to bring a male cleanser in, but he decries them – the subsequent female washer shrieks that they have brought shame on their country.
The heart of the tension lies less in who will clean the body and more in when and if either of the parents will come to any form of acceptance and tolerance towards what they are struggling to comprehend. As it becomes clear that both father and mother do come to a form decision – but in polar opposite directions – Alyaseer lands a perfect crescendo of affecting drama that is at once an ecstatic release and brutally shocking. Our Males and Females clearly functions as a challenge to conservative perspectives, particularly in the Arab region, but it is also a work of resounding emotion that reverberates well beyond the confines of its own microcosmic scenario.
Director: Ahmad Alyaseer
Cast: Kamel El Basha, Shafeqa Al-Tal, Moataz Allabadi, Sana Saleh
Screenplay: Ahmad Alyaseer, Rana Alyaseer
Producers: Mais Salman, Ahmad Alyaseer
Cinematography: Samer Nimri
Editing: Abdallah Sada
Music: Philip Hashweh
Sound: Israel Banuelos
Production companies: Alyaseer Productions, Where To Film (Jordan)
Distribution: Ouat Media Venue: Oldenburg Film Festival In Arabic
11 minutes
