Ajyal Film Festival 2024

All Films

Coucou

Made in Qatar

Meriem Mesraoua / Short Narrative / Qatar / 2013 / 10 min / Colour / DCP
In Arabic / English subtitles
Interests: Drama
World Premiere
Rated: Parental guidance is advised. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.

Synopsis

Eighty-year-old Samira spends her days in her large apartment, caring for her life-sized goldfish Coucou and warding off the outside world with pieces of aluminum foil, which she tapes to the walls and ceiling. But when an upstairs neighbour’s laundry lands on her balcony, Samira’s already fragile mental state shatters. With its eerie and disturbing atmosphere, ‘Coucou’ brilliantly captures the distorted reality of the senile mind.

About the Directors

Meriem Mesraoua was born in Qatar and raised in France. She returned to Doha while in high school, and earned a BSc with Honours in Media Industries and Technologies from Northwestern University in Qatar. She explored various facets of the film industry through internships with Miramax and NYWIFT, and as a production trainee on Michael Winterbottom’s award-winning film ‘Trishna’ in 2011. Mesraoua directed her first short film ‘Coucou’ in 2014, in which she explores the power of the mind when subjected to loneliness.

Credits

Director
Meriem Mesraoua
Screenwriter
Meriem Mesraoua
Producer
Torath Production
Editor
Abdul Jabbar Maki
Music
Chris Adamescu
Cinematographer
Wielder Catapat
Production Company
Torath Production
Cast
Badriah Ahmed Nassan, Carole Sabbagha, Suliman Fadlelbari, Saoud Al Gosaibi, Rashad Eid, Coucou

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staging