House in the Fields (Tigmi Nigren)
Ajyal Competition
Tala Hadid / Feature Documentary / Morocco, Qatar / 2017 / 86 min / Colour / DCP2K
In Amazigh / Arabic, English subtitles
Interests: Creative Documentary, Coming of Age
Gulf Premiere
Rated: Parental guidance advised for viewers under the age of 15. Individuals under the age of 15 are not admitted into cinemas unless accompanied by an individual aged 18 or over.
Synopsis
High in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, life in an isolated rural Amazigh community has changed little over the past millennium. History is passed down the generations orally, transmitted by traditional bards and storytellers. Filmmaker Tala Hadid gained intimate access to this community, as well as their trust, in her quest to document their daily lives in visual form, thereby preserving a moment in a culture that is constantly faced with the rapid changes of the larger society in which it exists.
‘House in the Fields’ primarily follows two teenage sisters. In a nation that has recently made steps forward in providing equal rights for women, Khadija dreams of becoming a lawyer one day, while her elder sister Fatima has stopped attending school pending her upcoming marriage. A languid camera captures the sisters’ conversations as they discuss the possibilities and likelihoods of the future, as we wonder what the impact of social progress will be on centuries of embedded culture. Daily life in the village is mostly a matter of survival, with tending to crops and gathering food being a constant; how do these youngsters hopes for the future mesh with such an apparently simple existence?
About the Directors
Tala Hadid’s work has screened at festivals around the world, including the Berlin International Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival and, among other venues, at the Museum of Modern Art and the Lincoln Center in New York City, the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, the Cinémathèque Française in Paris and the Photographer’s Gallery in London. Her films have received numerous awards, among them an Academy Award. Hadid’s ‘House in the Fields’ had its premiere at the Berlinale.
Credits
- Director
- Tala Hadid
- Producer
- Tala Hadid, Larbi Idmansour
- Editor
- Tala Hadid
- Associate Producer
- Lisa Kleiner Chanoff
- Executive Producer
- Joslyn Barnes, Sawsan Asfari, Maya Sanbar
- Co-Producer
- Umaru Embalo, Tommaso Cammarano
- Music
- Richard Horowitz
- Cinematographer
- Tala Hadid
- Sales Company
- Alpha Violet
- Production Company
- Kairos Films
- Mixing
- Jean-Guy Veran
- Cast
- Khadija El Gounad, Fatima El Gounad