Skip to main content
Ambush film image; young girl looking at a display of nude plastic dolls

Ambush

An after-hours rooftop party puts self-control, desire, and participation to the test.

Director
Cast

Sereen Khass, Emad Al Kobari, Joanna Arida, Mohammad Jayousi, Moath Zakzook, Bahaa Sulieman

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada/Jordan

Year

2025

Language

In Arabic with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
21 min
Drama Romance Shorts Talent to Watch Women Directors

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Rula Nasser

Producer

Joaquin Cardoner, Aseel Abu Ayyash, Yousef Abed Alnabi, Raya Abu Rub

Screenwriter

Yassmina Karajah

Cinematography

Farhad Ghaderi

Editor

Abdallah Sada

Production Design

Nasser Zoubi

Yassmina Karajah headshot

Yassmina Karajah

Yassmina Karajah is a Jordanian Palestinian screenwriter and director. Her short films have screened internationally in festivals such as the TIFF, AFI, and the Melbourne International Film festival, among others. Her film Rupture (2018) was a part of MoMA’s New Directors/New Films and won the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance, where she was the first recipient of the Russo Brothers’ Fellowship. Karajah is an alumna of the University of Bristol Law School (LL.B), holds a degree in film production from the University of British Columbia, and is a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Directors’ Lab.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World

Dir. Sasha Waters
91 min

Sasha Waters' documentary takes us through the life of America's best-selling late twentieth century poet, a private woman who shared her innermost thoughts and made them indispensable.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Saving Private Ryan

Dir. Steven Spielberg
165 min

Steven Spielberg's gripping war movie was hailed as an instant classic in 1998, and he won his second Academy Award in five years for Best Director. Matt Damon takes the title role, Tom Hanks is charged with bringing him home from the front.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Palimpsest: The Story of a Name

Dir. Mary Stephen
109 min

Drawing on home movies and diaries from the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s, Canadian filmmaker Mary Stephen (Eric Rohmer's editor for many years) investigates the origins of her surname. After all, she was born in Hong Kong to Chinese parents. Or were they... ?

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Xala

Dir. Ousmane Sembène
123 min

Ousmane Sembène is known as the "father of African cinema". An adaptation of his own 1973 novel, Xala is a hilarious, caustic satire of political corruption under an inept post-colonial patriarchy.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Buffalo '66

Dir. Vincent Gallo
110 min

Vincent Gallo's directorial debut is an eccentric, provocative comedy which laces a poignant love story with both a sombre, washed-out naturalism and surreal musical vignettes. This one is something different...

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Run Lola Run

Dir. Tom Tykwer
80 min

In the hyper intense world of pre-millennial Berlin, Lola has just 20 minutes to come up with a 100,000 Deutchmarks or her boyfriend cops it. He's asking the right woman: Lola won't stop til she's saved the day... It's Speed, in the multiverse...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema