once there was once there wasn'tonce there was once there wasn’t is a snapshot of decades lived in isolation. Births and birthdays, eids and ramadans, marriages and deaths, all celebrated and commiserated in distance.
The film is made as part of Stacey Donen's Greeting From Isolation project. Watch the film here. |
Sira - سيرة
filmmaker
Sira is an experimental essay that traces the exodus of a Sudanese family from Kuwait as a result of the Iraqi invasion. Excavated footage disrupt constructed memories as a mother recounts the evacuation, marring the bliss of her new family. Sira is premiering at the 43rd Toronto International Film Festival.
Sira is an experimental essay that traces the exodus of a Sudanese family from Kuwait as a result of the Iraqi invasion. Excavated footage disrupt constructed memories as a mother recounts the evacuation, marring the bliss of her new family. Sira is premiering at the 43rd Toronto International Film Festival.
Dreams Untold
filmmaker
A distressed woman recovering from an abusive relationship is urged by an encounter with a sleep paralysis demon to confront her deepest horror. Triggered by an argument with her sister, she turns to sleep only to find the Mare waiting at her bedside. Driven deep into her subconscious and stalked by the Mare, she must choose to save herself or be eaten.
A distressed woman recovering from an abusive relationship is urged by an encounter with a sleep paralysis demon to confront her deepest horror. Triggered by an argument with her sister, she turns to sleep only to find the Mare waiting at her bedside. Driven deep into her subconscious and stalked by the Mare, she must choose to save herself or be eaten.
A Celebration of Darknesscinematographer
A woman reflects on her tortured past and goes on an unexpected journey of healing by interacting with her younger self. |
Heidi Lost
cinematographer
Set in a post-apocalyptic dystopian society called the Hive, a fierce, independent Indigenous female has to face the biggest decision of her life when society goes on high alert. |
Fowl
lighting technician
An ordinary autumn jog becomes mysterious for a young woman as night falls around her. |
Ananke
cinematographer
Ananke is a short film that explores the complicated topic of dating violence. The lead character revisits the same abusive situation in the hopes that she might be able to change it only to discover that she can not change another. |
Jude and the Jinn
writer, production designer
A shisha café owner finds her daily routine shaken by the sudden appearance of an enigmatic, new customer, who confronts her with a new way of seeing. |
Lunar Schism
cinematographer
A surrealist/experimental/fantasy saturated in Ojibway archetypes and ritual but transposed into a new world/vision, visually paying hommage to the silent film era. A story about a gender-neutral being that is chosen by a divine lunar eclipse to become an anima (hyper-femme being). Featuring original music from turtle island—blend of Anishinaabe vocals and industrial/electronic soundscapes |
RISING
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إنتماء |
cinematographer
A young Inuit woman’s chance encounter with a white man, changes the way we see relations between settlers, the Indigenous of the land and the ancestors. The legacy of colonization creates a chasm deeper then words and more complex then political rhetoric. |
writer, director
A short meditation on longing and belonging. Stuck in a routine, unable to move forward, a woman relives conversations with her family, particularly her mother, until she can no longer bear it. |