Rent-a-Mama
Qumra Series
Dania Bdeir / TV Series / Lebanon, Canada, Qatar
In Arabic, English
Genres: Comedy
Rated: This film has not been rated.
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Synopsis
Nuhad is a sixty-year-old Lebanese supermom who has a big fear of change. She never ventures out of her immigrant bubble in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and prides herself on her cooking, home remedies, and award-winning meddling skills. The main target of her maternal smothering is her daughter, Tala, a thirty-year-old struggling artist who’s the only one of her children still living at home. But when their ongoing clashes reach a breaking point, Tala finally moves out, leaving Nuhad alone in an empty nest.
When her twelve-year-old grandson introduces her to Rent-a-Blank, an app where people can offer any service for rent, Nuhad decides to sign herself up as Rent-a-Mama. Chaos ensues as the comedic sessions with her liberal Gen Z clients in Bushwick challenge her conservative mentality and force her to evolve. However, despite her success as a mother-for-hire and her growing open-mindedness, Nuhad struggles to connect with her own daughter, Tala. These encounters also inspire her to examine her own life, leading her on a journey of transformation. Rent-a-Mama is Nuhad’s coming of age as she navigates life beyond motherhood, torn between her sense of duty and a newfound thirst for freedom.
About the Director
Dania Bdeir is an award-winning Lebanese writer/director and an alumna of NYU’s Grad Film programme. Her NYU thesis film, ‘In White’, received the Spike Lee Production Fund and premiered at Clermont-Ferrand. Her latest short, ‘Warsha’, won the Jury Prize for Best International Fiction Short at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, earned over 120 awards, and screened at more than 300 festivals, including SXSW, Rotterdam, and Palm Springs ShortFest. Shortlisted for the 2023 Academy Awards, ‘Warsha’ is available on The Criterion Channel, Apple TV, and Netflix MENA. Bdeir was selected as one of ScreenDaily’s 2022 Arab Stars of Tomorrow and is developing her debut feature, ‘Pigeon Wars’, which received development funding from Telefilm Canada and was selected for Cine Qua Non, Le Groupe Ouest, and the 2023 Sundance Screenwriters & Directors Labs. She is also developing her first episodic dramedy, ‘Rent-a-Mama’, which was selected for Series Mania Writer Campus, Torino Film Lab Series Lab, and the Doha Film Institute Series Lab. A recipient of The Walt Disney Studios’ Project Advancement & Completion Fund, Bdeir is managed by Anonymous Content.
Credits
- Director
- Dania Bdeir
- Screenwriter
- Dania Bdeir, Despina Ladi
- Producer
- Sahar Yousefi
- Production Company
- Nava Projects