Elevate
Special Screening - Ajyal Film Festival 2020
Hamida Issa / Short Narrative / Qatar / 2017 / 14 min / Colour / In Arabic, English, Tagalog / No Premiere
Rated: Parental guidance is advised. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.
Synopsis
After a hard day’s shopping, Latifa, a rude and vain woman and her long-suffering maid Rosie get trapped in an elevator. Already haughty and dismissive, Latifa becomes downright nasty in her treatment of Rosie, even going so far as to blame her for the mechanical failure. This brings emotions to a head, and Latifa goes on a journey in her mind, in which she confronts her own egotistical nature and rediscovers the lessons of humility and respect she learned as a child.
Audio described by Noor Al Taweel and translated by Marwa Serry and Sarah Saad
Voiced by Sarah Saad
Arabic and English trans-adaptation done by Ghanimeh Altaweel
About the Director
Hamida Issa is a Qatari director, writer and producer. She graduated with a BA in Politics from University College London and a MA in Global Cinemas and the Transcultural from the School of Oriental and African Studies. Issa worked for the education team at the Doha Film Institute at its inception and made her first short film, ‘15 Heartbeats’, which premiered at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, in 2011. She has made numerous short films since, which include a music video and a video art installation. She is the first Qatari woman in history to step foot on Antarctica and is currently making her first feature-length documentary, ‘Places of the Soul’, which considers her experience and environmental sustainability.
Credits
- Director
- Hamida Issa
- Screenwriter
- Hamida Issa
- Producer
- Basel Owies
- Editor
- Youssef Al Madadi
- Production Designer
- Lauren McCarthy
- Co-Producer
- The Film House
- Cinematographer
- Chris Moon
- Production Company
- Doha Film Institute
- Sound
- Nadim Maalouf
- Cast
- Dalal Ahmad, Kristine Lory Santos Ombajen, Ashiq Khan, Um Rashid