Abdullah and Leilah

( 2017 )

Short Film Competition |

United Kingdom

Arabic, English |

20 min

About the Film

Haunted by memories of his childhood in Baghdad, Abdullah suffers from dementia and struggles to communicate with his British-born daughter Leilah. As his mind wavers between his past and his unfamiliar present, he no longer remembers the life he has lived in London for the past 60 years or the fluent English he has spoken. Leilah, who only speaks English, needs one last moment of connection with her father before she also fades from his memory.

Director

Ashtar Al Khirsan

After graduating from the direction course at The National Film and Television School, Ashtar went on to make a series of single documentaries for the BBC. For the Arena Arts Strand on BBC2 she both shot and directed several award winning documentaries. Abdullah and Leilah is her first fiction film. Her first feature script, Bird in a Storm, was developed through the EU Media Funded Sources 2 script development programme.

Producer

Dominique Unsworth

Production Company

Resource Productions

Screenplay

Ashtar Al Khirsan

Cinematography

Vladimir Trivic

Editing

Tracy Granger

Sound

Doug Haywood

Cast

Sami Abdulhameed , Houda Echoufani

Contacts

Producer

Dominique Unsworth

Production Company

Resource Productions

Screenplay

Ashtar Al Khirsan

Cinematography

Vladimir Trivic

Editing

Tracy Granger

Sound

Doug Haywood

Cast

Sami Abdulhameed , Houda Echoufani

Contacts

More About Film

Haunted by the memories of his childhood in Baghdad, Abdullah has dementia and struggles to communicate with his daughter. As his mind slips and slides between his past and his unfamiliar present, he no longer remembers the life he’s lived in London for the last 60 years and the fluent English language he’s spoken. His British born daughter Leilah, who speaks only English, searches for one last moment of connection with her father before she also fades from his memory and he no longer remembers who she is.