Maha Al-Saati
A filmmaker interested in women’s stories in the Arab World. She is an alum of the TIFF Filmmaker Lab 2020, TIFF Writers’ Studio 2021, and received the Share Her Journey Award 2020/2021. Her shorts include “Hair: The Story of Grass” (2018), an official selection of Fantastic Fest 2018 and Slamdance 2019 and has won her The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) residency 2021. Her feature project “Hajj to Disney” was developed with the Red Sea Lodge and TorinoFilmLab 2019, and won development awards from El-Gouna Film Festival 2020 and Red Sea Fund 2022.
Sondos Shabayek
Egypt, Germany, 2022, 10 min
Arabic dialogue with English subtitles
Abandoned by her prince, an Arabian Cinderella is left serving guests. Meanwhile, her mentally challenged warden attempts to escape the body of the hairy grown-up he is trapped in.