Event Details
July 25, 2020
4:00 pm EDT
Virtual
Join us for our first Shorts Programme at TAFF2020.
Screenings:
The Sparrow//العصفور
Countries: Palestine, Austria
Director: Nasri Hajaj
Length: 14 mins
Synopsis: Based on true stories, The Sparrow, tells a story of life under dictatorship which can be anywhere and anytime. An Arab intellectual has been imprisoned for many years. One night while serving his unlimited period he is asked by the prison warden to tell stories to a five-year-old child in one of the neighboring cells. There he meets the mother of the child, born in prison. Meant to be a perfidious torture by the prison warden, he faces the challenge of how to tell a story to a child that has never seen the sun.
In Uncle Salem’s Country
Country: Tunisia
Director: Slim Belhiba
Length: 14 mins
Synopsis: Tunisia, September 2013. There is only a fortnight left before the beginning of the school year. Uncle Salem, guardian of a small country school, begins rudimentary maintenance. Anxious about the state of the flag, he decides to go for a new one. Uncle Salem moves towards the city, where the reverberations of a betrayed revolution run through the minds and streets.
The Old Kalbelouz
Country: Algeria
Director: Imène Ayadi
Length: 10 mins
Synopsis:In Algiers, Ahmed 70 years old wakes up alone at home, he will start a day immersed in his thoughts. Who is he talking to?
We Were There
Countries: Lebanon, Canada
Director: Rodrigue Hammal
Length: 8 mins
Synopsis: A father who came to Beirut with his family to start over. A mother who left her native village for her own reasons. Their paths crossed as the city’s fate was about to drastically change.
Abdullah & Leilah//عبد الله و ليلى
Countries: Iraq, United Kingdom
Director: Ashtar Al Khirsan
Length: 20 mins
Synopsis: Haunted by the memories of his childhood in Baghdad, Abdullah has dementia and struggles to communicate with his daughter. As his mind slips and slides between his past and his unfamiliar present, he no longer remembers the life he’s lived in London for the last 60 years and the fluent English language he’s spoken. His British born daughter Leilah, who speaks only English, searches for one last moment of connection
We Were There
Countries: Lebanon, Canada
Director: Rodrigue Hammal
Length: 8 mins
Synopsis: A father who came to Beirut with his family to start over. A mother who left her native village for her own reasons. Their paths crossed as the city’s fate was about to drastically change.
Co-presented by:
