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BAHRAINI filmmaker and director Maryam Abdulghaffar’s latest film, inspired by the hidden complexities of the digital realm, is making waves at film festivals around the world.
Noor Al Ezla (Arabic for ‘the light of isolation’) has also earned an honourable mention at the prestigious Egyptian Aswan International Women’s Film Festival (AIWFF).
Maryam was the only Bahraini to be shortlisted by AIWFF and to receive a grant to produce her film.
The seven-minute Arabic movie, with English subtitles, revolves around Muhammad, a reclusive young man struggling to connect with people. He spends his days alone. One day, he comes across a beautiful girl named Nour on Instagram and they soon fall in love. However, after some time, Muhammad discovers that Nour is not a real person.
“I had a dream about artificial intelligence (AI) taking over people and controlling them, which got me thinking. I decided to build on the notion and make it a script for a film,” Maryam told GulfWeekly.
The AIWFF empowers aspiring filmmakers and offers financial support and resources to produce films and the 34-year-old submitted her idea.
“I didn’t think anything of it but they selected my script and so I travelled to Aswan in Egypt in February and directed the film,” she said. “We were provided with the crew and actors and I loved the experience,” she added.
During the screening at AIWFF last month, Noor Al Ezla got an honourable mention from the judges because of its ‘cinematic feel’.
“It was a great moment and all the hard work had paid off. I remember that there were limited resources to work with, but this was good because it challenged our creativity,” Maryam said.
“We shot the film in one and a half days with a completely new cast who didn’t have much experience in front of a camera. We faced some challenges training them and choosing the right location, especially since we had limited time, but thank God it all went well. I had to remove some parts of the film during editing since I felt it would work well without them,” the Hamad Town resident revealed.
Maryam has been the recipient of numerous awards for her films, documentaries and photographs. She also won in the Media Industry category at the Middle East Women Leaders Award last year. In addition to exhibiting a creative streak, she harbours an entrepreneurial spirit and is the founder and chief executive of Imprint Production, which offers marketing consultancy and visual content production services.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Maryam is currently working on two new feature documentaries – her most preferred style of storytelling.
“I can’t reveal what they are about at the moment, but I would like to say I will always love documentaries more than narrative films. Documentaries inspire me to tell true and untold stories. That’s why I started Imprint Production. It’s the first Bahraini production house that focuses only on documentaries,” she added.
For details on the film’s release, follow @maryam.abdulghaffar on Instagram.
