The Best Life (Ahla Haya)
Made in Kuwait - Ajyal Youth Film Festival 2017
Meqdad Al Kout / Short Narrative / Kuwait / 2016 / 6 min / Colour / DCP / In Arabic, English / English subtitles / Qatar Premiere
Rated: Parental guidance is advised for viewers under the age of 13. Individuals under the age of 13 are not admitted into cinemas unless accompanied by an individual aged 18 or older.
Synopsis
Over the course of a day, a man is glued to his smartphone, following his favourite social-media celebrity guru. His apparently mundane life seems a far cry from the glamorous parties she attends and the exciting new products she promotes. His colleagues at work and his friends and the majlis are in the same situation, yet there’s only one thing they get true pleasure from. ‘The Best Life’ is an amusing take on the contemporary obsession for online living.
About the Director
Meqdad Al Kout has directed nine short films to date, with his ‘Banana’ winning the Special Jury Prize at the Gulf Film Festival in 2009. He completed a master class with Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami in Dubai in 2011, and recently attended a summer programme in filmmaking at La Fémis in Paris. Al Kout has also written and directed several sketches for the YouTube show ‘Sheno Ya3ni’, and has his own YouTube miniseries, named ‘World of Swalef’.
Credits
- Director
- Meqdad Al Kout
- Screenwriter
- Meqdad Al Kout
- Producer
- Meqdad Al Kout
- Editor
- Meqdad Al Kout
- Cinematographer
- Tarek Jammal
- Sound
- Tolaytila Studio
- Cast
- Ahmad Abudaham, Fatima Hayat, Mousaed Khaled, Yousef BinAli