Rent-a-Mama
Spring Grants 2024 - Development Stage
Dania Bdeir / TV Series / Lebanon, Canada, Qatar / 90 min / Original Language: Arabic, English / Interests: Comedy, Drama
Synopsis
Nuhad, a 60-year-old Lebanese supermom with a big heart and a big fear of change, lives in her immigrant bubble in NYC. She prides herself on her excellent cooking, creative home remedies, and outstanding meddling skills. The main target of her maternal smothering is her middle daughter, Tala, a 30-year-old struggling artist who still lives at home. When their continuous clashes escalate to a critical confrontation, Tala decides to finally move out. With her husband Farid busy at work, her son Ziad in California, and her youngest daughter Sarah studying in Boston, Nuhad finds herself alone in her empty nest. When her 12-year-old grandson introduces her to Rent-A-Blank, an app where people can offer any service for rent, Nuhad’s venture begins—Rent-A-Mama. Chaos ensues as comedic encounters with her liberal Gen Z clients challenge her conservative mentality but eventually open her eyes to her own life. These interactions lead her on a journey of transformation and self-discovery, revealing new dimensions of her identity and broadening her understanding of the world beyond her traditional values.
Credits
- Director
- Dania Bdeir
- Screenwriter
- Dania Bdeir
- Producer
- Sahar Yousefi
- Production Company
- Nava Projects
About the Director
Dania Bdeir is an award-winning Lebanese-Syrian-Canadian filmmaker. Her graduate thesis, 'In White,' for her MFA at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, received the Spike Lee Production Fund and had its world premiere at Clermont-Ferrand before screening at BFI London, Uppsala, and more than 30 other festivals worldwide. Dania was a 2019 Berlinale Talent and participated in its Short Film Station with 'Warsha,' which had its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and won the Jury Prize for Best International Fiction Short. 'Warsha' has won over 119 awards and has been selected at over 330 festivals to date, including SXSW, Rotterdam, Palm Springs, Clermont-Ferrand, and Karlovy Vary, among many others. 'Warsha' was shortlisted for both a César Award and an Oscar in 2023. Bdeir, a recipient of The Walt Disney Studios' inaugural Project Advancement and Completion Fund, is currently developing her debut feature film 'Pigeon Wars,' which received development financing from Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates. The film was selected for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, Sundance Director Lab, Le Groupe Ouest, the International Financing Forum at TIFF, La Fabrique in Cannes, and the Atlas Workshops, where it won the Atlas Prize for Development. A ScreenDaily Arab Star of Tomorrow, Bdeir is also developing her first television series, 'Rent-A-Mama,' which is in financed development with support from the CBC and the Canada Media Fund and was selected for the 2023 Series Mania Writers Campus as well as Torino Film Lab's SeriesLab. Dania is managed by Anonymous Content.