Beit Byoot (بيت بيوت)
Special Screening - Ajyal Film Festival 2020
Mayar Hamdan / Short Narrative / Jordan, Qatar / 2019 / 7 min / Colour / In Arabic / No Premiere
Rated: Parental guidance is advised. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.
Synopsis
Set in a dystopian dollhouse, Jameela, a friendly little girl wants nothing more than to fit in with the other girls in the house. But as she doesn’t look like all of the carbon-copied girls that play there, she is cavalierly rejected by them. That’s when she meets odd Yasmine and ultimately, must choose between true friendship and being an outcast or fake friendships and fitting in.
Audio described by Marwa Serry
Voiced by Rama Al Zoubi
Arabic and English trans-adaptation done by Omama Osman
About the Director
A Palestinian transmedia storyteller and multiplatform filmmaker with a strong eye for design, Mayar Hamdan has worked on a variety of projects, ranging from video games to films to video installations. Hamdan’s work is defined as the interdisciplinary exploration of migration, displacement, and feminist themes expressed through the canopy of colour theory. She obtained an MFA in Art and Technology at the California Institute of the Arts. During her time at CalArts she worked on her debut interactive 360º feature film Al-Mashata. Hamdan worked for multiple mobile gaming companies as an interactive game writer and animator in Barcelona, Spain. Additionally, she worked on the Doha Film Institute’s Film Training and Development team. During that time, Hamdan directed, wrote, developed, and produced several independent projects, most notably 'Beit Byoot' (2019), which can be streamed on SundanceTV, and 'Don’t Get Too Comfortable' (2021), which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. Hamdan is currently based in Los Angeles, CA, and is the Lead Narrative Designer at Lunacy Studios, an independent new media producer (Cinema, CR, AR, VR, & XR), Creative Director of FilmMena, & Northwestern University Studio20Q’s Industry Advisor. She is currently in production on her first feature-length absurdist architectural documentary.
Credits
- Director
- Mayar Hamdan
- Screenwriter
- Mayar Hamdan
- Producer
- Ghouna Jaber
- Editor
- Maryam Al Sahli, Amit Chowdhury
- Associate Producer
- Dana Atrach, Mohammed Fakhro, Quay Chu
- Executive Producer
- Maryam Al Khulaifi
- Cinematographer
- Shadi Chaaban
- Sound
- Falah Hannoun