Private Project

Space Woman (إمرأة فضاء)

Tripoli, North Lebanon.
At 64, Maha has just taken her retirement from teaching.
This new life puts her in the face of her loneliness as a divorced woman, whose children have left their home to live abroad for years now.
The sole company of her faithful neighbors is no longer enough for Maha to fight the terrible feeling of emptiness and boredom in which she now finds herself.
But had not she always dreamed of being an astronaut? And what if she lets herself drift to this promise of escape?

  • Hadi Moussally
    Director
  • Hadi Moussally
    Writer
  • Hadi Moussally
    Producer
  • Olivier Pagny
    Producer
  • Maha Abas
    Key Cast
    "Herself"
  • Sana Bakri
    Key Cast
    "Herself"
  • Salwa Alami Sabeh
    Key Cast
    "Herself"
  • May Moussally
    Key Cast
    "Herself"
  • Olivier Pagny
    D.O.P / Post-Production / Special Effects
  • Loopstache
    Music Soundtrack
  • Carl Ferneiné
    Mastering
  • Amanda Chaccour
    Text
  • Clara Fantassin
    Text
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Femme de l'espace
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Family, reality, drama, hybrid, age
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 25 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    France
  • Country of Filming:
    Lebanon
  • Language:
    Arabic
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Aks International Minorities Festival, Film – Art – Dialogue 2024
    København
    Denmark
    October 11, 2024
  • Muharraq Nights 2023
    Manama
    Bahrain
    December 9, 2023
  • Garofano Rosso Film Festival 2023
    Forme
    Italy
    September 10, 2023
    "Best short film" & "Best Trailer" awards
  • Toronto Arab Film Festival 2023
    Toronto
    Canada
    June 1, 2023
  • Freiburger Filmforum - Festival of Transcultural Cinema 2023
    Freiburg
    Germany
    May 17, 2023
  • Europa Film Festival 2023
    Barcelona
    Spain
    March 31, 2023
    "Best Hybrid Drama"
  • Lucid Dream Festival 2023
    Pisa
    Italy
    March 3, 2023
  • The Kennedy Center
    Washington DC
    United States
    February 19, 2023
  • Rome Prisma Film Awards 2022
    Roma
    Italy
    December 16, 2022
  • Lublin Film Festival 2022
    Lublin
    Poland
    November 26, 2022
  • Holidays365 International Film Festival™
    Online
    United States
    November 24, 2022
  • Festival internacional de cine de San Luis Potosí 2022
    San Luis Potosí
    Mexico
    November 20, 2022
  • Waterford International Film Festival 2022
    Waterford
    Ireland
    November 1, 2022
  • FICBC - Balneário Camboriú International Film Festival 2022
    Camboriú
    Brazil
    November 1, 2022
  • Mizna’s 2022 Twin Cities Arab Film 2022
    Minneapolis
    United States
    October 2, 2022
  • Oakville Film Festival 2022
    Oakville
    Canada
    June 28, 2022
    "Best International Film" Nomination
  • Cinemas 2022 - The Alternative Film Festival 2022
    Abu Dhabi
    United Arab Emirates
    June 9, 2022
  • Ferrara Film Corto Festival - “Ambiente è Musica” 2022
    Ferrara
    Italy
    June 6, 2022
  • Brno Film Festival 2022
    Brno
    Czech Republic
    April 20, 2022
  • Red Sea Film Festival 2021
    Jeddah
    Saudi Arabia
    December 6, 2021
  • Arab Film Festival 2021
    San Fransisco
    United States
    November 18, 2021
  • Cinemed - Festival du cinéma méditerranéen de Montpellier 2021
    Montpellier
    France
    October 16, 2021
  • LA Shorts International Film Festival 2021
    Los Angeles
    United States
    July 1, 2021
Distribution Information
  • MAD Solutions
    Distributor
    Country: Egypt
    Country: Lebanon
    Country: Syrian Arab Republic
    Country: United Arab Emirates
    Country: Jordan
    Country: Saudi Arabia
    Country: Bahrain
    Country: Qatar
    Country: Oman
    Country: Kuwait
    Country: Iraq
    Country: Yemen
    Country: Palestine, State of
    Country: Libya
    Country: Algeria
    Country: Tunisia
    Country: Morocco
    Country: Mauritania
    Country: Djibouti
    Country: Somalia
    Country: Sudan
    Country: South Sudan
    Country: Comoros
Director Biography - Hadi Moussally

Hadi Moussally was born in Lebanon in 1987.
By age 18, he decides to go study film direction in France where he acquires a first master’s degree in “Fiction Cinema” from Paris-Est Marne la Vallée University. Moussally then chooses to take on a complementary masters in “Documentary and Anthropological Cinema” from Paris X Nanterre University, in the course of Jean Rouch. In that respect, Hadi Moussally acquainted himself with reality-cinema. The anthropological and documentary approach accustoms him with the sense of keen observation of his subjects and alerts him to the importance of instantaneous shooting; whereas his fictional background gives him the urge of creating sensual, esthetically pleasing imagery universes.
From 2012, Hadi Moussally shifts towards the world of fashion and directs several experimental films some of which received various distinctions in festivals. In 2014 he made his first documentary on the end of his grandmother's life, and in 2016 a docu-portrait on a senior model. In 2018 he completed an experimental project on albinism "Positive" whose photos have been exhibited at the UNESCO, the City Hall of Paris and Beirut Art Fair as well. In 2015 he founded the production unit H7O7 whose main objective is to enable the making and promotion of films and photos with "hybrid" vocation where is privileged the mixture of genres between experimental, documentary, fashion and fiction.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Cinema has always been a privileged way for me to express myself, especially to deal with issues and themes that awaken in me a feeling of injustice; more generally the norms and constraints imposed by society on our individual freedom.

The film treats elderly women in the Arab world by showing Maha, the newly retired and single woman, trying to handle and deal with her new life. This film also treats immigration and distance by bringing forward the video-relationship she has with her children.
The film mostly talks about the status of women in the Arab communities, where Maha was always thought to be a perfect housewife and great mother, but the society did not tell or make it easy for her to follow her dream.

When my mother told me for the first time that she wanted to be a space MAN (رجل فضاء), I found it funny for a woman to use such a term describing herself. I always wondered why the word astronaut is always translated into Arabic as (رجل فضاء): which means Space Man/Rider. What about female astronauts? So, I slowly started to realize the big gap that still exists between both genders, surely more present in the Arab world. Throughout the years, women have been able to obtain more rights and independency, however, it is still a long process. Especially with my mother, a 64 years old woman, raised in a society that recognizes her as a decent woman only when she is a mother and a good wife. Women of her age today, , weren’t taken seriously and were not allowed to have big dreams during their younger years Her dream of becoming an astronaut is an example.

With time, I am more and more drawn to making films that combine different genres, including documentaries to capture reality and fiction with staging. Which I would like to call: Hybrid.