Experiencing Interruptions?
Password

Beneath a Mother's Feet

A single mother in Morocco, trapped in a mundane existence, confronts her dreams and fears, leading to the agonising decision to forsake all she knows, even her children.

  • Elias Suhail
    Director
  • Elias Suhail
    Writer
  • Arij Al-Soltan
    Producer
    Baghdad Central, Korean Lovers in Baghdad, Safia, Tabbouleh & Pie
  • Nisrine Adam
    Key Cast
    "Wedad"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Thriller, Surrealism, Cinema Verité
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes 31 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 22, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    55,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    Morocco
  • Language:
    Arabic
  • Shooting Format:
    Sony Venice
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Canadian Cinematography Awards (CCA)
    Toronto
    Canada
    August 19, 2023
    Winner: Film of the Month; Best Cinematography; Best Director; Best Original Score; Best Producer; Best Editing
  • European Cinematography Awards (ECA)
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    September 6, 2023
    Winner: Best Short Film
  • Red Movie Awards
    Reims
    France
    September 24, 2023
    Winner: Best Actress
  • Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival
    Palma de Mallorca
    Spain
    October 18, 2023
    European Premiere
    Special Mention
  • The Bay International Film Festival
    Morecambe
    United Kingdom
    October 28, 2023
    Winner: Best Editing
  • SHORT to the Point
    Bucharest
    Romania
    October 31, 2023
    Winner: Best Narrative; Best Leading Actress, Best Cinematography
  • Tangier Film Festival
    Tangier
    Morocco
    November 15, 2023
    Morocco Premiere
    Grand Prize: Best Fiction Short ("The Golden Grotto" Award)
  • Midnight Soul Film Festival
    Helsingborg
    Sweden
    November 28, 2023
    Sweden Premiere
    Honourable Mention
  • IndieCork Film Festival (BAFTA Qualifying)
    Cork
    Ireland
    December 16, 2023
    Ireland Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Rome Prisma Independent Film Awards
    Rome
    Italy
    January 6, 2024
    Winner: Best Editing; Best Sound Design
  • Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival
    Athens
    Greece
    January 28, 2024
    Winner: Best Short Film
  • Lift-Off Season Awards 2023
    Pinewood Studios
    United Kingdom
    February 24, 2024
    Winner: Best First-Time Filmmaker; Winner: Audience Choice Award
  • Hastings Rocks International Film Festival
    Hastings
    United Kingdom
    Winner: Best Cinematography
Distribution Information
  • MAD Solutions
    Sales Agent
    Country: Egypt
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Elias Suhail

Elias Suhail is a British-Moroccan writer and filmmaker whose works are interested in narratives which compel a deeper questioning of our ethical and moral frameworks.

His work spans creative non-fiction, short fiction, theatre and film.

He has contributed several pieces to the New Statesman, had his work featured on BBC Sounds as part of the Margins to Mainstream with Michael Sheen podcast series, as well as performed to live audiences.

Elias’s directorial debut, Beneath a Mother’s Feet, completed in 2023, has won numerous awards globally, including the Golden Cave Award for Best Fiction Short at the Tangier Film Festival, as well as Best First-Time Filmmaker and the Audience Choice Award at the Lift-Off Season Awards 2023.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

As a young woman in her native Morocco, my mother found herself stuck: A divorcee and single mother to two young children, she struggled to envision a future for herself. In the midst of her emotional turmoil, my mother took a fateful step away from her life, leaving behind everything she had known, including her young children.

It is a story that preceded my coming into this world and yet its significance has rippled through time, impacting lives in direct and indirect ways, to the present day.

Beneath a Mother's Feet is a reconstruction of the thirty-six hours leading up to this moment of departure, unearthing the dense layers of emotions my mother undoubtedly experienced.

Here I am, more than 50 years after these events, representing these events on film using a blend of my mother's personal testimony and my own memories of the long Summers spent in Morocco during my childhood, as a way of making the incoherent past somehow coherent, as a tool to explore internal realities and truth, to hopefully move towards healing and reconciliation.

It is a tale of the boundaries of maternal ambivalence and self-discovery built with scraps of memory and imagination.

As the director, my aim is to not just tell a story, but to invite audiences on a reflective journey of their own. It is a tribute to my mother and all single mothers in the world, but also a canvas for viewers to see, feel, and perhaps find fragments of their own stories.