First Feature

a.k.a. اول فلم

dir. Bentley Brown
14 min | Saudi Arabia | 2018
Saudi Arabic & English

Working underground in the year before the legalization of cinema in Saudi Arabia, a team of mostly women makes its first feature film. Anonymous accounts of their experience are brought together in a melancholic narration. In the spirit of first films, a filmmaker documents the production in Jeddah with his first video camera from childhood.

***Sheffield Doc/Play participation at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2018***

Festival Selections

• International Film Festival Rotterdam (2019)

• Feminist Border Arts Film Festival, New Mexico State University (2019)

• Beirut Women Film Festival, Lebanon (2019)

• World of Women Film Fair Middle East, United Arab Emirates (2019)

• Rennes International Film Festival, France (2019)

• Middle East Now, Italy (2019)

• Duhok International Film Festival, Iraq (2019)

• Berlin Motion Picture Festival, Germany (2018) - Winner, Best Short Documentary

• Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival (2018)

• The Artists Forum Festival of the Moving Image NYC (2018) - Nominated for Best Festival Theme Short: Women’s Empowerment

• Arab Film Festival, San Francisco (2018)

• Minikino Film Week, Indonesia (2018)

• FIFAK Tunisia (2018)

• San Antonio Film Festival (2018)

• Hidalgo Film Festival (2018)

• Lebanese Independent Film Festival (2018)

• CICA Experimental Film & Video Exhibit, South Korea (2018) - World Premiere