A HORROR film based on a Bahraini folklore has been submitted to an international festival in the US.
Titled Cloven, the short film is about Um Homar (Mother of Donkey) – a half-woman, half-donkey creature who seeks out and eats children.
In years gone by, parents, typically mothers, used the tale to warn children against venturing outside the house in the afternoon – the creature’s time to lurk in the neighbourhoods.
Wearing all black, Um Homar’s tell-tale sign was the sound of her hooves as she prowled the neighbourhood.
The six-minute short film is the debut production from Bahraini filmmaker Mohammed Fakhro, who graduated from Eicar International Film and Television School in Paris last year.
He told the GDN that he used his passion for horror films to bring the tale to life on screen.
“I used to watch horror films to experience the thrills; it was just like a roller-coaster ride at an amusement park,” he said.
To pursue his passion, the 31-year-old quit his job at the Bahrain Development Bank’s business advisory department in July 2016 and joined the Paris school.
Work on Cloven began two months after he graduated in August 2017.
Mr Fakhro and younger brother Ali worked on the script while their friend Sam Shin wrote the screenplay.
The short film has been entered in the Screamfest Horror Film Festival which will be held in Hollywood, California from October 9 to 18.
“Cloven actually means split in two, like the cloven hoof of a cow, a deer or a camel,” said Mr Fakhro.
“The Devil is said to have cloven feet and we wanted our Um Homar to have that evil connection.”
For the sake of realism, he wanted to use a donkey’s leg on the main character but instead opted for a horse’s leg.
“A friend of mine was going to put down his horse after it broke its shoulder, so I asked him to cut off the animal’s front left leg before cremation,” explained Mr Fakhro.
The leg was kept on ice before Bahraini actress Reem Erhama, aged 31, was told that it was going to be attached to her knee to make it look realistic.
“I asked the visual effects people to put the split in the hoof to make it look like it’s cloven,” said Mr Fakhro, adding that it was a challenge to shoot the film.
“The filming process was extremely stressful because we shot on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Al Rumaitha desert, Sakhir and there were motorcycles and cars passing by.
“It was a challenge to get a nice clean shot because a character in the film – the driver – needed to look like he was isolated, without any cars in the background.”
To Mr Fakhro’s surprise strangers stopped by to lend a helping hand.
“That’s what you get when you shoot a film in Bahrain; everyone is going to want to help out,” he added.
Cloven was screened at Isa Cultural Centre in Juffair in June this year as part of ‘Made with Passion 3’ festival which was organised by the Information Affairs Ministry, Nooran Pictures and Gilgimash.
Mr Fakhro is currently working on another dark thriller with Dilmun mythology at its roots.
“I want to keep doing films about Bahrain and anything that represents Bahrain because I want to promote Bahraini cinema,” he said.
“I’m writing a story about Dilmun mythology; the film will be 20 minutes long and a dark thriller based on a cult performing rituals based on Dilmun mythology.”
He also plans to open Blu Steel Films, a production house in Bahrain, in December to show that Bahrain can produce high-quality films.
Meanwhile, Ms Erhama told the GDN that Cloven was an ideal vehicle to introduce a local legend to the West.
“I have always been passionate about local legends and traditional tales from our culture,” she said.
However, she said there were a few “scary and weird moments” on set while shooting the film.
“We thought Um Homar’s spirit was around, upset for invading her space,” she said.
“We were shooting in the middle of nowhere and suddenly the camera fell. We eventually laughed but it was one of those moments.
“Then there was the time when I had just finished shooting with a horse’s leg attached to me and I was walking funny and making weird noises and suddenly my car wouldn’t start.
“I felt as if Um Homar would suddenly appear and ask me why I had taken her role!”
The film also stars 63-year-old Bahraini Mubarak Khamis as a taxi driver.
reem@gdn.com.bh
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