THE NARROW FRAME OF MIDNIGHT
[ITAR EL-LAYL] by Tala Hadid
Morocco/France/Great Britain 2014 93 min. Arabic-French original version with English subtitles
The young orphan, Aïcha, is taken and sold from her home in the hills of the Atlas mountains. She finds herself at the mercy of a petty criminal, Abbas, and his girlfriend, Nadia. They soon cross paths with Zacaria, a writer, who has left everything behind to search for his brother. The group embarks on a journey that will lead them across Morocco, to Istanbul, the plains of Kurdistan and beyond.
"So rarely in a debut feature do directors depict such a meaningful and stylised view of the world as Hadid. This interesting and insightful story reflects similar situations others have to face in today’s war-ridden world. The beauty of the surrounding landscape contrasts the lonely and haunting lives of these characters further cementing their melancholy. The final scene of the film seals the characters’ ambiguous future." (The Upcoming)
Biography: Multi-talent Tala Hadid works as writer, director and photographer and has made several short films, including YOUR DARK HAIR IHSAN which received an Academy Award and won the Best Short Film Award in the Panorama section of the Berlin International Film Festival. She has also made various documentaries including SACRED POET on Pier Paolo Pasolini. Her work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, among others. Last year the fine art photography publisher "Stern" published a volume with a selection of her photographs as part of its "Stern Fotografie Portfolio" series of emerging artists.
Filmography (selection): 2005 YOUR DARK HAIR IHSAN, 2013 THE WELCOME TABLE PROJECT (both short films), 2014 THE NARROW FRAME OF MIDNIGHT
