Saudi director wins prize at Milan Film Festival
JEDDAH: The Saudi film “Wake me up,” by director Reem Al-Bayyat, has won the best director award at the Milan Film Festival (MFF), reported Sayidaty. Earlier, the film won the best film award at the Madrid International Film Festival (MIFF).
Stars of the film are Ibrahim Al-Hasawi, Samar Al-Bayyat and Ahd Kamil. The film won a series of awards including for best direction at the Madrid International Film Festival in the category of short films.
The film tells a story about a single woman named “Salam” who is in her early 40s. She has sons and daughters who are living away from her and, hence, she suffers from loneliness and a negative attitude toward her from society. However, she secretly works as a dancing trainer but insists on restoring her artistic hobby in the face of community rejection.
Therefore, the film came to reflect the suffering of Saudi women amid the “social hypocrisy” around her, a matter that brought her to a difficult state of psychosis which was aggravated by using tranquilizers.
The film was first shown at the Dubai Film Festival (DFF) and was selected among the best GCC short films in the film competition.
Reem Al-Bayyat is a Saudi film director and photographer. She obtained a certificate in photography form the British Institute of Arts in 2005. She attended a training course in film direction from the same Institute in 2008. She prepared a series of film works reflecting Saudi women’s issues.
She began her first film experience with “Domya” (Doll) and “Zilal” (Shades) together with her latest work with the film “Wake me up.”