Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Talented Taqwa Ali Naser has ‘reeled’ in a few accolades for her films and The Grocery List appears to be already a winner in terms of its script and concept.
It is currently in the early editing stages but she is hoping it will make the big film festival rounds before being streamed online for all to enjoy.
“The film is taken from inside a shopping cart where a young man rebels against his mother after she rejects his choice of milk bottle,” she explained. “On the surface, it’s about the milk, but has a deeper meaning underneath.
“None of the actors speak by the way. It’s all about body language; its expressive with some even dancing and it can be seen as weird … but it’s also very artsy.”
Her short offering is funded by the Doha Film Institute, Saudi Film Festival and Alliance Française Bahrain. It is also supported by French Production Centre, Bmedia, Actions Lab, Phi Productions, Stars Casting Company, Artrobe Company, Blu Steel Films and Atnafs Company.
Her script also won three funding approvals from the Doha Film Institute Production Fund, the Saudi Film Festival Production Fund and the French Embassy Production Fund.
She is appreciative of all the hard work put in by her backroom team including assistant director Fatima Taqi, director of photography Jaffer Alhelwachi, art director Anas Ishak Bagvala, line producer Amna Alhawaj, production designer Swechha Sharma, costume designer Fatima AlBastaki, production manager Mohamed Alsayyed, gaffer Shauket Hassan and editor Jaffer Mohammed AlBaqali, to name a few.
The on-screen stars are Ahmed Saeed as Jehad, Salwa Soliman as Nora and Marian Mayer as the script doctor.
Taqwa hopes the film will cause people to question the process of marriage and, perhaps, want to improve it. As for her cinematic dreams, she says they keep changing too.
“I prefer to show my dreams through films and maybe only ‘good observers’ will get them,” she said.
There appears to be a growing army of admirers who do ‘get it’ though. Her films have already picked up accolades and she has worked on nine movies, from narratives and music videos to experimental and documentaries in Arabic, English and Malay.
Since 2016 until today, she has played several roles in her films too, but really enjoys screenwriting and directing. She also wrote a docu-drama called A Palm Tree in Muttrah under the supervision of Sultan Qaboos University, and worked as a production designer for Saeed Short film 2023.
Taqwa has participated in many global scriptwriting workshops, including at the Torino Film Lab 2022 and her films have been featured at several festivals.
Her 2019 offering Wings of the Dawn and two in 2022 – The Shoes That Get Smaller Every Night and Scapegoat – won funding prizes from the Red Sea Film Festival Lab and from Cinewaves distribution company, respectively.
For details, follow
@taqwa.ali.nasser on Instagram.
