Short Film Saturday Feat Faiza Ambah and Shaima Al Tamimi w/ MIME
Starts on Sat, Aug 13, 2022 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
Register here.
Short film screening followed by Q&A every week!
About this event
Welcome back to Soleil Space’s Short Film Saturday! This week we chat with Shaima Al Tamimi from Yemen and Faiza Ambah from Saudi Arabia.
SOLEIL SPACE: Soleil Space is a media company based in Brooklyn, NY that centers and lifts the film and television creative communities of color around the world. Soleil’s mission is to achieve a more equitable and representative global media landscape. Our focus is on the Global South diasporas of Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and Middle East with the goals of elevating untold stories by creators from these cultures, forming closer transcultural community bonds and providing opportunities for global audiences to discover premium, world-class content that authentically represents them.
SHORT FILM SATURDAY: Short Film Saturday is a live showcase of short films from the hottest emerging filmmakers across the Asian, African, Lat Am, Caribbean and Middle Eastern diasporas. To date (i.e. by May), we’ve screened 33 films from 26 directors in 25 Global South countries. Through the series, audiences get to discover some of the Global South diaspora’s most promising directors, producers and writers for live short film screenings followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers. Why short films? Often celebrated and then shelved, short films shine a brilliant light on the amazing talent that exists all across the Global South, often demonstrating extraordinary ability with limited resources. Short Film Saturdays was born out of popular demand from listeners of our Soleil Spotlight podcast (going into its 3rd season later this Spring), in which we profile the individual journeys of trailblazing Global South creators, yet our listeners complained of not being able to actually see all the films they were speaking about! We can’t think of a better way to give our communities around the world a way to see these often-hidden works that they wouldn’t otherwise, and have our minds opened to new stories and points of view.
MIME: Moving Image Middle East (MIME.news) is a website and newsletter which focuses on the moving image culture in all its forms and is a one-stop destination for film, television and all artistic developments in Middle Eastern countries. A little trade news, a touch of celebrity coverage, all with a healthy dose of culture mixed in with lifestyle, fashion and reviews, if you need to know about it, it’s on MIME.
SHAIMA AL-TAMIMI: Shaima Al-Tamimi is a Yemeni-East African, visual storyteller based in Qatar. Her work is inspired by social and cultural issues reflective of her own personal story. She explores themes relating to patterns and impacts of intergenerational trauma, societal culture and healing. She was a Photography & Social Justice 2020 Fellow at the Magnum Foundation where she developed her award winning film “Don’t Get Too Comfortable”, which was nominated for the Orizzonti Award for Best Short film at Venice Film Festival (La Biennale) and won the Bronze Tanit Award at Carthage Film Festival in 2021. Her works have been supported by Arab Documentary Photography program,Women Photograph, the Prince Claus Fund, Tasweer, to name a few. In addition to her artistic endeavours, Shaima is a development consultant for YWT, a Yemeni organisation that offers funding and mentorship to creative Yemeni talents in and out of Yemen.
FAIZA AMBAH: Faiza Ambah is an award-winning writer/director/producer and former Washington Post correspondent based in Saudi Arabia. Her directorial debut short film, MARIAM (2015) won numerous international awards, including being showcased at UNESCO in Paris, the Scottish Parliament, and is continually being screened at universities around the world. Faiza was also involved in the production of SANCTITY (Berlinale 2013), AVE MARIA (Cannes, Oscars 2015) and A GAZA WEEKEND (TIFF 2022
VOICES FROM THE URBANSCAPE: A sort of travelogue around Qatar’s capital in development. “Voices from the Urbanscape” is a tribute to the diverse communities who contribute to build this country from the ground up, but yet to emotionally catch up with its growth. Visions of construction in contemporary Doha neatly express its nearly manic pace of growth, while various voices from the community express their sense of attachment and identity as a result of the city’s rapid urbanisation to deliver the world cup. Directed by Shaima Al Tamimi and Maryam Salim.
MARIAM: After France bans religious symbols in public schools, Mariam ignores the law and tries to wear her hijab to school.
Are you a filmmaker who wants to join Short Film Saturday? Submit here for free: https://filmfreeway.com/SoleilSpace
