Feet
Spring Grants 2022 - Development Stage
Mahdi Ali Ali / Feature Narrative / Qatar / 80 min / Original Language: Bosnian, English / Interests: Drama
Synopsis
Suada is a girl with a dream of becoming a ballerina, while Dzemaludin is a boy infatuated with football. They grow up parallelly, their ambitious pursuits in life mirroring each other. Not long afterwards, at a party in Sarajevo, Suada and Dzemaludin meet, falling for each other instantly. Soon they welcome children, and Suada takes on motherhood as Dzemaludin continues to excel as a football player. Trouble creeps in with the 1990s, which sees a devastating war in Bosnia. Dzemaludin leads Qatar’s national football team, so Suada is left to confront the disintegration of her country via TV. Suada is relentless in persuading Dzemaludin to go back to Sarajevo with her and their children. Eventually, they again move back to Qatar, where Dzemaludin takes his old job back, and under his coaching, Qatar takes gold at the Asian Games in 2006. Dzemaludin and Suada, now old and weak, from a hill above Sarajevo, look upon their beloved city suffocating in smog and a pandemic. In the final scene of the film, we see Dzemaludin at the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. As he stands there alone, he misses one person by his side to share this moment with.
Credits
- Director
- Mahdi Ali Ali
- Screenwriter
- Emina Kujundzic
- Producer
- Mahdi Ali Ali
About the Director
Mahdi Ali Ali (Mahdi Al-Sharshani Ali) is a Qatari filmmaker who is charged with the training and education of filmmakers. Since joining the Doha Film Institute, he has successfully worked to provide filmmakers in Qatar with comprehensive learning initiatives led by the industry's major players. Ali is also the Executive Producer and Supervisor for more than 30 short films that have been produced by the Institute. He holds an MFA from EICAR, the International Film School of Paris, and has directed, produced, and written short films, including ‘Champs Elysées, I Love You’ (2009), ‘The Gulf Habibi’ (2011), and ‘Amphitheater’ (2018) as well as others for Al Jazeera Documentary Channel and Al Jazeera Children's Channel.