A Bahraini movie maker found the perfect location for her awarding-winning short film right under her own feet ... thanks to her family’s understanding and encouragement.
Taqwa Mohamed Jawad transformed her home into a movie set to shoot her short film, titled The Shoes that Get Smaller Every Night, she revealed after celebrating a second-place accolade in the recent ‘Made with Passion’ film festival.
Film poster
The original 10-minute film was written based on Taqwa’s observations of children and as a homage to her late grandmother. “This is the first real set I have worked on within Bahrain,” the 24-year-old told the GDN.
“I repurposed the entire second floor of my house, converting my brother’s room into the protagonist’s, my sister’s room to the crew’s breakroom, and my own room into the storage area!”
The filmmaking fanatic added that the production was a true family effort, including the film’s star ‘Akbar’ played by her young cousin Abbas Habib.
“At every turn, my entire family came together to make the film possible in addition to friends and neighbours,” she said. “The caterer was my mother, the ‘runner’ or production assistant was my father, and my two sisters took care of script supervision and make-up.”
This communal effort resulted into the award-winning drama written in Bahraini Arabic which tells the story of a young boy who is attached to a pair of shoes that no longer fit him.
Brothers Abdulla Habib, left, and Abbas Habib with the Made with Passion film festival award
The Shoes that Get Smaller Every Night explores the child’s fear of leaving things behind, his attachment-related anxiety, and how adults in his life react to his sensitive disposition.
“I was inspired to write this story by my grandma, who lived in a room in our house near the garden.
“Although grandma rarely went outside, she was very protective of her shoes and kept them safe by hiding them under a chair near the garden door, which she often left open.
“Unfortunately, she passed away before she could see the completed film.”
The director said that she also got inspiration to write the script from observing how children think and act, and in particular her cousin who was seven at the time of shooting last year.
“I wrote the main character Akbar specifically with little Abbas in mind. He has a great ability to display emotions and can portray many different facial expressions.
“Abbas’ performance carried the entire film,” said Taqwa. “There were some difficulties getting him to play Akbar as the shooting was during the toughest patch of the pandemic last year.”
After trying to find a replacement, Taqwa said that she had to beg Abbas’ parents to reconsider, which they did.
“Abbas takes acting very seriously, and does not break character between shots. I believe he discovered his love for acting while shooting the film.”
As for the other characters like the mother and kindergarten principal, Taqwa said she choose neighbours and friends with no prior acting experience for the roles.
“I wanted the performances to be authentic and as close to reality as possible, which is why I picked regular people,” she added.
According to Taqwa, her upcoming work, an experimental film titled The Grocery List, will likely start filming later this year.
“It is about a local urban legend that there is an alleged matchmaking list circulating on WhatsApp chats, where details about different women are listed,” she added.
“The list apparently has information about the girls, like their height, weight, eye and hair colour, and anyone can add an entry even without the girl’s knowledge.
“So I found shopping in the supermarket as an analogue for this kind of objectification of women, with details listed just like the nutrition information on products bought in the store.”
For more details, she can be reached via @taqwamohmmad on Instagram or by emailing taqwamohammed.55@gmail.com.
zainab@gdn.com.bh
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