Samir "Sheikh El Chabeb"

Log line:
My film is a 21 min one shot, fixed camera as POV of Samir, an old grandfather who wakes up one day finding himself lying in his coffin attending his own funeral. This film is a satiric dramatic comedy about society and specifically the Lebanese one. Samir will encounter his granddaughter, grandson, wife and daughter in very emotional moments, and on the other hand other people attend his funeral, some because it's a duty, others to gossip and others for public relations. Throughout these 20 min Samir will see all the people who approach his coffin, he can also hear what they are saying and on this special day, Samir is gifted to hear the people's thoughts. This will help him know people's true intentions towards him and will give him hints throughout the film to remember the events that have happened the day before and that led to his death. The film was shot in one two days, one for the church scenes and another one for the flash back scene. Film required a lot of prep since it's a "one shot" concept and that it requires a great tempo and timing especially that actors had to leave gaps to fill in in post production all the VOs of the actors. I hope my note has triggered enough your curiosity to getaway for 21 min and enjoy the film. Cheers

Anecdote:
I have had the idea of the film last year on my grandfather's funeral day. I was a very dramatic day for me, it reflected my love to my grandfather, yet this day has influenced the idea of my film. The situations that happened on that day kept looping in my mind for several weeks after his death, and day by day my film was starting to be built. The film has a lot of indirect and direct messages to the audience, it highlights our habits and behavior in such occasions, whether we are the ones with the big loss or the ones who are just attending such an event for duties and public relations. But my main indirect message was for all the brothers and sisters who are not in very good terms with each other, film will push them to re question the importance of them getting along together for a lifetime as this will result in heartbreaking their parents. In my film, Samir the grandfather gets hit by a frozen lamb by mistake while his sons were fighting in the kitchen on a day that was supposed to reunite them, it's a metaphor to when brothers and sisters fight and stop communicating to each other, which breaks the parents hearts and kill them indirectly as i believe that there is no more disappointing than seeing that you as parent haven't managed to keep your family solid. The film has required a lot of preparation, and timing counting, tempo cutting to maintain a 20 min film rich, it has also required a lot of prepping with the actors in order to memorize their interior monologues and the interior monologue of the rest of the cast too so that they leave them enough space to reply in their VOs. We have trained as if we were preparing for a play not a film as it's "one shot" representing the POV of the dead man in his coffin, and we don't have the luxury to fill inserts in case of mistakes. I have decided that Samir, the grandfather should be granted the gift of seeing and hearing who is around him and also to be able to hear people's thoughts to know one's true intentions, and this was the way that helped him in the end of the film remember the accidents that have lead to his death, and it was then that his soul was ready to leave the body and be free for eternal life.