Pause Bundle

These films portray the physical body as a “finite” vessel and how its functions and parts affect daily life. Pause Bundle depicts the SWANA region’s relationship with death outside of the context of imperialism and war.

He’s Dead Now dir. by Tarek El Sherbeny
Egypt | Arabic | 12 min
Hazem is distraught after his family secrets are made public when his mother decides to expose his late father’s sexual affairs during his funeral rites.

The Cut dir. by Chahine Fellahi
Morocco | No Dialogue | 5 min
Shot in the old medina of Casablanca, Morocco, during the festivities of Eid al-Adha, The Cut is a short film exploring the Muslim tradition of animal sacrifice. Following the multiple stages of the ceremony leading up to the sacrifice, the film depicts the mystical atmosphere of the festival, emphasising on the gestures associated with the ritual and the labour of hands as they execute the passage from life to death.
Credits: Kaïs Aïouch (he/him), Cinematographer

Eid Mubarak dir. by Mahnoor Euceph
USA/Pakistan | Urdu & English | 16 min
Iman, a privileged Pakistani girl, goes with her family to buy a goat, as is the tradition in Pakistan before Eid al-Azha. She picks the cutest one and takes it home. She spends all of her time with the goat, whom she names Barfi. Soon, however, she realizes that Barfi is not a pet, but a goat being raised for slaughter. She makes a plan to save Barfi’s life. Along the way, through the help of her family and friends, she learns the true meaning of sacrifice, and the reason behind Eid al-Azha.
Credits: Rubab Rasheed, Actor (Iman), she/her

Breaking Fast with a Coca-Cola dir. by Amy Omar
USA | English & Turkish | 14 min
After growing up in the secular households of their Turkish immigrant parents in the Midwest, Özlem and Ada are desperate to celebrate a tradition of their own. For the first time, they embark on a day of fasting and a night of feasting for Ramadan.

Ayyur/Moon dir. by Zineb Warkim
Morocco | Moroccan & Amazigh | 13 min
Forough Farrokhzad: “To film and make ugliness visible would be to attenuate it. Not to look away is to make it beautiful, ugliness doesn’t exist when you see an ugly man as a man, you discover beauty.”

Ahu dir. by Mahsa Razavi
Canada/Iran | English | 14 min
Ahu follows the healing journey of two women, Ahu and her neighbour Jaycee, who form a bond while confronting their own personal struggles in their low-income rental apartment.

Sweet Refuge dir. by Maryam Mir
USA | English & Arabic | 12 min
A passionate Syrian baker spends his first Eid in the US attempting to sell the sweet he has spent his lifetime perfecting: walnut baklava. As he roams the streets of Brooklyn, he bumps into a savvy Indian ladoo maker, who appears to have figured out how to appeal to one of New York’s health-conscious Brooklynites.

Vibrations from Gaza dir. by Rehab Nazzal
Palestine/Canada | American Sign Language | 17 min
This film was conceived after my visit to Gaza to work with traumatized children in an art therapy program following the 2021 Israeli attack. It intends to give Palestinian Deaf children in the besieged Gaza a voice to share their experiences, shedding light on the horrific conditions they have been enduring since 2007. It also questions the deafness of the world towards the conditions of 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza.