A SINGLE MOTHER IN MOROCCO FACES AN UNTHINKABLE DECISION: TO WALK AWAY FROM HER LIFE AND HER CHILDREN'S FUTURES. INSPIRED BY FAMILY LORE AND DREAMS.

The film

A reconstruction of the thirty-six hours before a mother’s departure.

Writer-director Elias Suhail returns to an event that shaped his family more than fifty years ago. Built from inherited stories, memory and dreams, the film holds the everyday and the metaphysical in the same frame.

2023 · 15 min · UK / Morocco · Darija Arabic · English and French subtitles

Read the director’s statement

Selected prizes

  • WinnerGolden Cave Award
    Best Fiction Short
    Tangier Film Festival
  • WinnerDikalo Award
    Best Short Film (Drama)
    Festival du Film PanAfricain, Cannes
  • WinnerBest Short FilmEuropean Cinematography Awards
  • WinnerJuthour Award
    Most Promising Filmmaker
    Toronto Arab Film Festival
  • WinnerBest Foreign FilmBristol Independent Film Festival
  • WinnerBest Short NarrativeDumbo Film Festival
  • WinnerBest First-Time FilmmakerLift-Off Season Awards 2023
  • WinnerAudience Choice AwardLift-Off Season Awards 2023

Full festival journey

Still from the film: a family gathered at a candlelit dinner table
“A luminously flawless, gracefully assured piece of work.”
Michel Faber Author of Under the Skin
★★★★★
“A masterfully crafted, thought-provoking and visually captivating work of art.”
MovieFest UK
“A testament to the beauty and depth of Moroccan stories—a magnificent achievement.”
Youssef Kerkour, BAFTA-winning British-Moroccan Actor
★★★★★
“A bold, bare and daring film.”
UK Film Review
“A breath of fresh air. A story of many, yet unique in its sentiment and delivery.”
Souad Talsi MBE, Al-Hasaniya
“A strong and poignant film.”
Rebecca O’Brien, BAFTA-winning Producer
★★★★½
“Truly captivating.”
Film Carnage
“A richly layered, surreal narrative.”
Hastings Rocks International Film Festival