New Film In process
Abu Khalid’s bakery
This Trailer was filmed as a proof of concept. Having a total volunteering collaboration with a professional team, and believing in the film and me, was the best shooting day I ever had.
Tamara, a junior social worker, comes to a school that called her in to help a gay student who suffers from bullying. What the school doesn’t know is that Tamara supports LGBTQ+ individuals, not one that “treats” them. This misunderstanding shakes the school and uncovers unexpected secrets about its administration.
Behind the scenes
Story
When Tamara (23) first arrived at “Ibn Sina G” High School in Jaffa, she never imagined her day would end with an unprecedented scandal that would shake this small, conservative school for a long time. Tamara, a social worker at the beginning of her career, is interning with an organization that supports LGBTQ+ youth. She arrives slightly late after the school principal, Rodina (42), requested the organization’s services, a rare occurrence in Arab schools, where such collaborations are uncommon. The reason for this request is a gay student whom the principal is trying to “correct.”
Unaware of the principal’s intentions, Tamara supports the student and stands by him, which angers Rodina and prompts her to exclude Tamara from the school. Rodina grows suspicious that Tamara is encouraging Samer in his identity. Defending the person she came to help, Samer reveals a secret about Rodina, demanding that she address her own gay son’s struggles before meddling in his life.
Unaware of the principal’s intentions, Tamara supports the student and stands by him, which angers Rodina and prompts her to exclude Tamara from the school. Rodina grows suspicious that Tamara is encouraging Samer in his identity. Defending the person she came to help, Samer reveals a secret about Rodina, demanding that she address her own gay son’s struggles before meddling in his life.
Heartbroken, Rodina confides in Tamara about her own struggles and inability to accept or understand her son. This conversation provides her with relief and shifts Tamara’s role from an adversary to a counselor.
Why I want to make this film?
After my first short film on Arab LGBTQ+ issues caused controversy when I tried to screen it in an Arab village, I became even more determined to create films that tackle sensitive social topics. At the time, I was volunteering with an LGBTQ+ youth group in Haifa, exposed to powerful stories that deepened my sense of responsibility as both an activist and a filmmaker.
Tamara was inspired by a workshop I led in a conservative school in Arraba, where I trained staff on gender and sexuality. The principal initially refused to let me in because of a small tear in my pants, a moment that revealed how deeply rooted these norms are. Inside, I faced teachers who mocked the topic at first, but eventually engaged in an honest, surprising conversation about identity, society, and education. I didn’t change their beliefs, but I introduced a perspective they had never encountered.
That experience made me wonder: if I was judged so harshly for something so small, what would happen to a woman in the same position? This question gave birth to Tamara, an Arab social worker entering a Jaffa school to support a gay student. The film follows her through a single chaotic day filled with awkwardness, clashes, misunderstandings, and glimpses of hope.
Stylistically, I envision a handheld, documentary-like approach that mirrors the instability of the environment and the long journey Arab society still faces. My goal is to create a comedic, cynical film that holds up a mirror to a system that raises generation after generation with essential questions left unasked and unanswered.