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

The Blue Caftan

Dir. Maryam Touzani
122 min

Richly erotic and deeply moving, Maryam Touzani’s queer-themed film takes us to urban Morocco and into the lives of three beautiful souls. Halim is a master tailor; Mina is his loyal wife; Youssef is the man who slowly comes between them.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Sun Never Sets

Dir. Joe Swanberg
102 min

At the suggestion of her much older (divorced) boyfriend, Wendy (Dakota Fanning) takes a summer to reevaluate her life and date other people. She's reluctant at first, but then reconnects with an old flame... A gentle indie comedy from Joe Swanberg.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Hanging by a Wire

Dir. Mohammed Ali Naqvi
78 min

The Himalayas, Aug 22, 2023: a cable car bearing 8 passengers (six of them schoolkids) is left dangling 900 feet above the ground when two out of three cables snap. This nailbiting documentary recounts the increasingly frantic rescue attempts.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Andrei Rublev

Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
183 min

Andrei Tarkovsky's vast and vivid episodic epic tells the story of a Russian monk and painter of religious icons 1400-1428, during the time of the Tartar invasions.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Union County

Dir. Adam Meeks
97 min

In this authentically grounded addiction recovery drama, Will Poulter and Noah Centenio are foster brothers trying to get out from their dependence on opioids through a progressive government program in Ohio.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

PULP: What Do You Do For an Encore?

Dir. Garth Jennings
90 min

Always the coolest of the Britpop bands, Jarvis Cocker's Pulp commemorated 40 years of music and friendship with a reunion tour and film, with Sing director Garth Jennings at the helm.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema