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Shawafa

A short film about love and lust.

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Shawafa

Shawafa

Shawafa

Shawafa

Shawafa

A short film about love and lust.

A short film about love and lust.

A short film about love and lust.

A short film about love and lust.

Ashtar Alkhirsan
Ashtar Alkhirsan
Ashtar Alkhirsan
Ashtar Alkhirsan
1 Campaign |
London, United Kingdom
$1,981 USD $1,981 USD 26 backers
27% of $7,314 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
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Overview
SHAWAFA is a short film about a woman who visits a Shawafa, a Moroccan witch, seeking a remedy for the dangerous lust she has for a man she works with. Has this man cast a spell on her, is she possessed by a bad jinn? Whatever it is, the woman, the Shawafa and her maid, find their lives totally transformed by its presence. Shawafa is being made under the ARRI Alexa/Directors UK short film scheme. It is proudly produced by SHH Productions, Serendipity Films and Frank & Lively Productions.

Short Summary

SHAWAFA is a short film about a woman who visits a Shawafa, a Moroccan witch, seeking a remedy for her dangerous lust but instead ignites a passion in the Shawafa who tries to cure her.

Our Shawafa is a powerful, charismatic woman, who practices her sorcery in her flat in the middle of central London. One of our Shawafa’s clients is Saeeda, a beautiful woman who is groomed within an inch of her fabulous life. Everything about Saeeda signals elegance, good taste and sophistication.

But the calm, sculptured surface of this woman conceals an inner chaos brought on by lust. Saeeda is obsessed with a man she works with and is tormented to the point of madness. Has this man cast a spell on her, is she possessed by a bad jinn? Whatever it is, Saeeda, the Shawafa and her maid Khadija find their lives totally transformed by its presence.

Setting

Our film is set in a secret London where Londoners live in their homes above shops, next to cafés and takeaways, living their lives undetected by the people who pass by their front doors day and night.

This film is also about a hidden part of a London community. The Moroccan community in London, like those in Morocco, are keen users of magic.

Shawafa are Moroccan women who read the future, cast or break a spell and rid people of evil spirits or jinn (genies),  and are often sought out by people who want help with relationships and fertility.

All the characters in the film are Muslim women and are from different ethnic and social backgrounds. These people are often hidden or ignored in films but we want to see these kinds of characters explored in contemporary stories. These older women are complex, driven and all have rich inner and outer lives.

The Directors UK/Arri Alexa Film Challenge Scheme

We are very lucky that 'Shawafa' has been selected for the Directors UK/Arri Alexa Film Challenge. This means that the camera company Arri will provide us with an amazing camera kit but we need to raise the money for everything else that we need to make this film.

The Impact

Women behind the camera

This film is important for a couple of reasons. Currently the film industry is going through some much needed change.  And we want to contribute to that change

We want to be part of the movement to get more women into key Head of Department roles in the film industry. Recently Directors UK launched the 50/50 campaign which highlighted the gender imbalance in the film industry.

Our film has a woman Writer/Director, women Producer's, a woman Cinematographer and Production Designer, and we are looking to film more of the key roles on our team with women. We want to make a contribution and we want to be part of the change in the film industry.

https://www.directors.uk.com/campaigns/gender-equality-in-uk-film-industry

Women in front of the camera

This film also features three women characters, all over 40 and from different ethnic backgrounds. Something we very rarely see on film.

Again, we think it is really important that more women who are over 40 are given roles and stories where they are the centre of the narrative, where their experience and point of view is reflected on screen.

Our characters are also first and second generation immigrants. They are Londoners. And again, we think it is important that we hear more of their stories and explore their experience of living in this country so that films represent the way we live in Britain today.

These are really strong actors and strong characters, they are uncompromising and unapologetic. 

https://www.act-for-change.com/

What are our funds for?

We are being very careful with our budget but there are some things that you can't make a film without. Although we are getting some of our camera equipment from Arri there are a few lights that we will need to hire.  We need to pay our cast and crew and make sure that they are fed. We need to pay for the location we are filming in and we need  props and furniture to create the magical space where the Shawafa lives and meets the people who seek her help. 

Our Team

Writer/Director - Ashtar Al Khirsan

After graduating from The National Film and Television School, I went on to make a series of single documentaries for the BBC. For the Arena Arts Strand on BBC2 I shot and directed award winning documentaries. My films have been screened at film festivals in Edinburgh, London, Rotterdam and Chicago, where I won the Best Arts Documentary Film Award. My last short film, ‘Abdullah and Leilah’, was funded by The Wellcome Trust.

Producers - Marie Dong Wilcock & Marcie MacLellan

Marcie is the producer of APOSTASY, a Frank & Lively and iFeatures production. In 2017, the film’s cinematic release by Curzon was met with critical acclaim. APOSTASY has since received a BAFTA nomination, six British Independent Film Award nominations – including Breakthrough Producer – and was named Best British Film of the Year by Screen. In total, APOSTASY has been the recipient of 15 nominations and five wins to date.

Due to her ongoing mission to challenge gender inequality in the media industry, Marcie was listed as ‘One to Watch’ on Campaign Magazine’s Future Female List 2017.  She continues to raise the profile for SheSays – a global creative network for women of which she is a long-standing director. In 2018, she founded a consistently sold-out event-series that celebrates and inspires women in advertising.

Marcie continues to speak at global events to challenge gender inequality in adland, writes for The Guardian, Financial Times, Campaign and The Drum and is proud to be named a ‘BAFTA Guru.’ With a BA in Journalism and MA in Film Production, she lectures at Met Film and continues to support the education of young female storytellers with Film London EAN.

Producer - Marie Dong Wilcock

Marie has worked in the film industry for over a decade, starting her career on the cult film Hot Fuzz as an Assistant Accountant and moving her way up through the ranks. She is now a Financial Controller on feature films and HETV shows, helping productions make creative decisions through financial reporting, budgeting and costings. She has a vast experience of filming abroad and the first decade of her career saw her working on locations in South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, India and Morocco to name but a few. She is passionate about the filming process as a whole and film as a medium for creatively telling stories.

Director of Photography - Mary Farbrother

Mary Farbrother is an experienced DoP and 35mm aficionado with a wonderful reputation for her work with light.  She has shot countless commercials, feature films, music videos and numerous shorts. Mary worked with Carol Morley on the highly acclaimed ‘Dreams of a Life’ and received a special mention for her Cinematography on the feature film 'The Darkest Light' at Taormina Film Festival. Among other awards she received Best Cinematography at Aspen Film Festival for her work on the short film 'Shadow Man', and Best Cinematography at Capalbio for the Golden Bear winning ‘At Dawning ‘.  

Production Designer - Adriana Faria

Adriana is a Production Designer with 18 years experience in the industry. She has worked across film, tv, music video, fashion and advertising as well as architecture and design. 

Our Cast

Houda Echouafni plays Saeeda

Houda Echouafni is a film, TV and theatre actress who has appeared in in 'Waking the Dead', 'Dirty War', 'Sea of Souls' 'Hotel Babylon' and  'The Death of Klinghoffer’ for Film 4. Houda played Shahrazad in Tim Supple’s epic 6 hour trilingual production of One Thousand and One Nights to much critical acclaim.

Souad Faress plays The Shawafa

Souad has a career which spans theatre, film, television and radio. Her credits include the long-running BBC Radio 4 serial The Archers, Game of Thrones where she played the High Priestess of the Dosh Khaleen, Porters, Apple Tree HouseBrief EncountersBerlin StationSense8Cabbage & Patch and Vera.

Rina Fatania plays Khadija

Rina trained at The Central School of Speech and Drama and is currently in the Ishy Dinn play Approaching Empty.  Her other credits include:  Love N Stuff at Stratford East; The Empress at the RSC and Wah! Wah! Girls at Sadlers Wells. 

What We Need & What You Get

We need to raise £6,000 to make our film. The money we raise will be used to pay our crew and cover their basic travel expenses and to make sure that our cast and crew are fed. Other money will be used to pay for filming permits, to film outside in a central London street and for the amazing location we are filming in where we need props, some basic furniture and curtains to create the space where the heart of the story takes place. We will also be using the funds raised to cover all our post-production costs including editing the film, colour grading and producing the soundtrack for the final film.

You will have our huge and eternal gratitude for any donation that you make and we are also offering Associate and Executive Producer Credits and film production packages at a discounted price.

Other Ways You Can Help

Make a pledge, even if it is a token one, it will really help us move towards our goal of the campaign. Your support means a huge amount to us, whatever the size. 

Please Share.  It would be great if you could share this on social media and encourage people to get involved.  And please remember to LOVE not LIKE.  To really help social media algorithms then you need to love our posts not just like them. Please give us a   Also please use the Indiegogo share tools.

Tweet about the Shawafa campaign using the hashtags #Shawafa #womendirectors #ChangeTheRatio #FemaleFilmmakerFriday  #filmherstory #womendirectorsnow #GotToSeeItToBeit #hirethesewomen #representationmatters

 

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