Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Interview: HIJRA [Red Sea International Film Festival 2025 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia] - Part I

2 days ago

Director Shahad Ameen talks to Fest Track about influences, creating narrative and seeing the evolution of the local film industry while discussing her new Saudi drama: “Hijra” playing the Red Sea Competition section of the 2025 Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Transcript

00:00This is Tim Wasberg from Fast Trek on Strict TV.

00:29I'm here in Jeddah for the Red Sea International Film Festival.

00:32Today I entered into the SUG in the Red Sea Film Festival and I'm just so surprised and so proud.

00:38Jeddah is my hometown and I was making films way before films were allowed to be screened in the kingdom.

00:46So we had to take our films, thankfully not totally abroad, but to other Gulf countries.

00:52There was the Doha Film Institute who actually supported my first big short film.

00:57And there was Dubai Film Festival where I screened my first films and Abu Dhabi Film Festival, you know.

01:03So that was fantastic, but I never thought it would happen in Saudi.

01:06Never, never.

01:07I swear in a million years, I never thought it would happen.

01:11I thought, but it's good enough.

01:12But did you want to be a filmmaker from way before?

01:15From way before.

01:16I decided I want to be a filmmaker when I was 10 years old and I saw the Syrian TV drama.

01:21It's historical.

01:22It's in classical Arabic.

01:24It's insane.

01:24It's crazy.

01:25It's so cool.

01:26You know, I see it until now and I'm like, this is the coolest thing ever.

01:30I would want to make that, you know.

01:31So, yes, I saw that and I was like, I will make films.

01:34I was never inspired by American films, to be honest, because I know a lot of filmmakers

01:39are around the world.

01:41But for me, I really enjoyed Arabic stories and I enjoyed to be, I enjoyed, I wanted it

01:48to be our history, you know.

01:49I wanted it to be our books, our literature.

01:51Why should it be somewhere else, you know?

01:54Yes.

01:54So, I never thought watching, you know, Japanese animation is very big in the Arab world.

02:02American films is very big in the Arab world, of course.

02:05But they never inspired me because it's not you, you know, it's not you on screen.

02:10But when these historical dramas, they were so epic and awesome and they were so big in

02:15the Arab world at the time when I was 10 until I was 15 or 16.

02:18They don't do them anymore, which is so sad.

02:24They don't do them anymore, they don't do them anymore, but they don't do them anymore.

02:54Look, the first year I was here, they were shooting Desert Warrior.

03:07Yeah.

03:07And not Desert Warrior, and that's an Arab story.

03:10Yeah, yeah, yeah.

03:10And they're shooting...

03:11I mean, it's not an Arab.

03:12They're shooting a big...

03:14I heard they're shooting...

03:15I'm so excited about that.

03:16They're shooting like this big battle film about a companion of the Prophet, peace be upon

03:22him.

03:22His name is Khaled bin Al-Waleed.

03:24He's one of, like, the most renowned, like, generals in armies.

03:28Like, they teach him in army school.

03:30Like, he never lost a battle.

03:32And they're shooting one of his battles.

03:33And I can't wait.

03:34I think it's an American director who's doing it.

03:36But I think that will...

03:37That's what some of the stuff I love, I think I will never do because it's very hard.

03:43But it's one of these things that are going to be epic.

03:47But can you talk about the transition from doing some like scale to this one?

03:52Because this is very much a modern Arab story of the generations and how they see each other,

03:58how they evolve.

04:00Can you talk about that and the importance, especially with a film based on...

04:03Centered on women, obviously.

04:04Yeah.

04:05You know, with every story I tell, I put part of myself in it.

04:10And I'm very thankful to the film schools I went to, to the teachers who taught me.

04:18Because, you know, when you enter into the film world, you don't understand.

04:21You know, I told you, I entered because I wanted to make these big historical epics.

04:24And that has nothing to do with me.

04:26You know, that has something to do with my culture, my heritage.

04:28But nothing to do with me personally.

04:30But then when you get more into, you know, the essence of film,

04:36what you need to say as an individual.

04:39What can you say that no one else can say?

04:42And I think this is where I've learned.

04:44And, you know, you learn it because at the beginning, you're like,

04:47what do I want to say?

04:48Who am I?

04:49You know?

04:49So with the scales, and I had a short film before that scales was inspired by.

04:55So I think the first, a few short films where I felt I put myself,

05:01I sat with myself and I said, what do I want to say?

05:06Beyond my society, beyond me as an individual.

05:09And I think this is where the magic starts to happen for every filmmaker.

05:12It's being very honest with yourself.

05:15And with scales, I did want to tell a story about a girl who is struggling to find peace with her feminine body.

05:25I was such a tomboy growing up, obviously.

05:28A lot of my friends were such tomboys.

05:31And I think growing up in such a male-dominating society, you're kind of embarrassed of your feminine side.

05:37And you do not want to accept it, especially, you know, getting your period and your body is changing.

05:41And you're like, what?

05:42But you did that very subtly here.

05:43It was just done, but it was up to important detail.

05:47And I didn't want to do it in modern day.

05:51I wanted to do something that is so visceral.

05:54I wanted to do something that you can see, that you feel the changes.

05:58So I was like, what's better to have a girl who's turning into a mermaid and refusing this mermaid body?

06:05And I was like, what's better to have a girl who's turning into a mermaid body?

06:35Even in this one, it's in 2001, so it's a very specific time period.

06:43But it's also the one thing I like that you did is that you made it a road trip.

06:47So it's not just general.

06:48I mean, it's the first feature I shoot inside my country.

06:52Scales, I had shot it in Oman, beautiful Oman.

06:55And of course, I had shot a lot of short films here.

06:58But I knew I wanted to shoot this road movie.

07:01I knew I wanted to shoot in these epic locations.

07:03And for me, it's such a big deal that I come from Jeddah.

07:08And I wanted to show this sacred city, this sacred country, this country that Muslims from around the world dream of visiting.

07:16Every inch of it is sacred.

07:18Every part of it is sacred.

07:19Every part of it is filled with historical stories that people consider eternal.

07:24So I wanted to walk in the footsteps of these pilgrims.

07:27And in reality, we did.

07:29So basically, the locations that we shot in are all pilgrimage routes, wells that pilgrims used to stop by to drink their water.

07:37Exactly.

07:38And we wanted to be in these big spiritual locations because you can feel the energy of the place.

07:44And of course, I wanted to share a story that is spiritual, a story that is about three generations of women.

07:52But it's not just about that.

07:53It's about them traveling in these sacred lands.

07:56And they go through the spiritual journey.

07:58And they come back to themselves.

08:00So it's not just a story about a missing girl or about a girl looking for freedom.

08:03It's much deeper than that.

08:05And for a long time, it was just about the missing girl.

08:08There was no pilgrimage.

08:10There was no immigration story, the backstory.

08:12And I was like, this is so boring.

08:13This has been told millions of times before.

08:15I hate it so much.

08:17And then when I came up with the story, I was like, what is so exciting about the kingdom?

08:22What is the most?

08:23I was like, pilgrimage.

08:24Pilgrimage is the most exciting thing about who we are.

08:27Mecca and Medina is the most exciting thing about who we are.

08:31It's our jaw.

08:32It's what draws people to our country.

08:35And I was like, why don't I use that?

08:38And I think people shy away sometimes, even Saudis, because they feel it's too sacred.

08:43But I really hope that I treat it with enough respect.

08:46And I love it so much.

08:48And I consider this land the most sacred in the world.

08:50So I wanted to share that with the world.

08:52I wanted to share these three women with Ahmed going through these sacred lands and finding themselves in it.

08:59I love you.

Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Interview: HIJRA [Red Sea International Film Festival 2025 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia] - Part I

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