We often get stuck in a rhythm, a pattern of movement that keep us in one place, tending to one situation, sometimes far longer than we intend. Whether (im)mobilized by convention or war or occupation, creatures desire movement and change: a push beyond the status quo, a changing of the guard, a revolutionary burst of energy to incite something different and new. In this series of short films, each film uses sound an image to explore the place between life and death, memory and forgetting, war and peace, and stagnation and movement.
The animals’ brown, beige, white, and black coats blend into the ochre earth and sunbaked walls. After the calm of rest hour, a deafening cacophony breaks out at feeding time, as the dogs bark excitedly. In a stray-dog refuge in Agadir, Morocco, more than 750 animals find help and protection while awaiting adoption. Each day is the same as the last, the only excitement provided by mealtime. Empathetic and alert to subtleties of light and texture, Halima Ouardiri observes the rhythm of the animals’ lives, their suspended existence paralleling the far more tragic waiting endured by millions of human beings in search of a new home.
Festivals and Awards
Berlin International Film Festival, Germany, 2020
Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth, Canada, 2020
About the filmmaker
Halima Ouardiri was born in Geneva to a Swiss mother and a Moroccan father, and she grew up enjoying pursuits as diverse as training horses and being a bodyguard for visiting Saudi princesses. She studied political science and film production in Montreal. Joining EyeSteelFilm, she rapidly gained all sorts of indie filmmaking credits as a producer and head of distribution. She wrote, directed, and produced Mokhtar. The film was shot on super-16 in the remote countryside of Morocco near Agadir, starring local villagers, many goats, and an owl. Of all the cast, only the owl was trained as an actor. Since its premiere at TIFF, Mokhtar has traveled to a hundred international film festivals (Dubaï, Rotterdam, Berlin, SXSW), and has won numerous awards for Best Short. Ouardiri is currently writing her first feature film, The Camel Driving School, produced by IndieProd in Paris.
- Year2019
- Runtime18 minutes
- LanguageArabic, English Subtitles
- CountryMorocco
- DirectorHalima Ouardiri
- ScreenwriterHalima Ouardiri
- ProducerHalima Ouardiri
We often get stuck in a rhythm, a pattern of movement that keep us in one place, tending to one situation, sometimes far longer than we intend. Whether (im)mobilized by convention or war or occupation, creatures desire movement and change: a push beyond the status quo, a changing of the guard, a revolutionary burst of energy to incite something different and new. In this series of short films, each film uses sound an image to explore the place between life and death, memory and forgetting, war and peace, and stagnation and movement.
The animals’ brown, beige, white, and black coats blend into the ochre earth and sunbaked walls. After the calm of rest hour, a deafening cacophony breaks out at feeding time, as the dogs bark excitedly. In a stray-dog refuge in Agadir, Morocco, more than 750 animals find help and protection while awaiting adoption. Each day is the same as the last, the only excitement provided by mealtime. Empathetic and alert to subtleties of light and texture, Halima Ouardiri observes the rhythm of the animals’ lives, their suspended existence paralleling the far more tragic waiting endured by millions of human beings in search of a new home.
Festivals and Awards
Berlin International Film Festival, Germany, 2020
Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth, Canada, 2020
About the filmmaker
Halima Ouardiri was born in Geneva to a Swiss mother and a Moroccan father, and she grew up enjoying pursuits as diverse as training horses and being a bodyguard for visiting Saudi princesses. She studied political science and film production in Montreal. Joining EyeSteelFilm, she rapidly gained all sorts of indie filmmaking credits as a producer and head of distribution. She wrote, directed, and produced Mokhtar. The film was shot on super-16 in the remote countryside of Morocco near Agadir, starring local villagers, many goats, and an owl. Of all the cast, only the owl was trained as an actor. Since its premiere at TIFF, Mokhtar has traveled to a hundred international film festivals (Dubaï, Rotterdam, Berlin, SXSW), and has won numerous awards for Best Short. Ouardiri is currently writing her first feature film, The Camel Driving School, produced by IndieProd in Paris.
- Year2019
- Runtime18 minutes
- LanguageArabic, English Subtitles
- CountryMorocco
- DirectorHalima Ouardiri
- ScreenwriterHalima Ouardiri
- ProducerHalima Ouardiri