One Week Ago, Today
Spring Grant 2012 - Development Stage
Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia / Feature Narrative / Lebanon, United States of America, France, Qatar / 90 min / Original Language: Arabic / Interests: About Family, Dark Comedy, Female Director
Synopsis
Off the coast of a small fishing town in the south of Lebanon, a man in his 40s is found unconscious in a boat. He has amnesia and remembers absolutely nothing about who he is, or where he came from. After he is recognised by one of the fishermen, he is taken back to his home, where he is reunited with his aging father, who has Alzheimer’s disease. Both men are now strangers to each other but are forced to interact as family. Meanwhile, the son struggles with the chore of trying to remember his life, the possibility that he attempted suicide, and with caring for the man who is supposed to be his father. Their only tie to the outside world is their neighbour, an aging, lonely Russian woman who is rumoured to be a prostitute, and who voluntarily inserts herself into their lives, attempting to reconstruct their past and organise their future. It’s Easter week, and nationwide fear of a tsunami is rising.
Credits
- Director
- Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia
- Screenwriter
- Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia
- Producer
- Rania Attieh
About the Director
Named one of the 25 New Faces of independent Film by 'Filmmaker' Magazine in 2011, Rania Attieh is from Tripoli, Lebanon. She is an MFA graduate in media art from the City College of New York, and works as a writer and director of fiction. She is currently participating in the CPH-DOX lab in Copenhagen. ‘Ok, Enough, Goodbye’ (2010) was her first feature film. She also made a short commission for the Sharjah Art Biennial in 2011.