The Hurl

I never in my filmmaking career thought I would ever make a film about the environment, especially not about waste and garbage. That doesn't mean that I don't care about the environment, it's just that I never felt that I could tackle such an important topic and make it entertaining for myself and others. However, when I heard about a local film competition whose theme was "Waste", I found myself enticed to think of an idea. I didn't want to make a short documentary about the subject because I thought to myself, everyone will be doing that. I had a few fictional ideas that I liked, but I didn't want to settle for just anything. The subject is very overdone and boring; how can I add a new touch to it? Maybe it was the competitor in me that pushed me to think 'outside the bin'. Maybe it was my love for genre films, especially horror and sci-fi?
That's how I came up with "The Hurl", a zero-budget sci-fi environmental disaster film/PSA.
The crew was minimal, and so was the equipment. The cast might seem extravagant, but it was more of friends, family members and neighbors who took a part in the film and had a bit of fun (I hope!).
The theme of the film is waste mismanagement and its effect on humans. In my home country, Lebanon, the garbage crisis has been going on for as long as I could remember, literally for years and years, long before I was born. I would say the majority of the Lebanese population, myself included, never really cared to "save the turtles" and "save the planet", not because we don't care for the environment, but because we never really had the right facilities and proper awareness provided while growing up. Also, our government doesn't really have any laws or penalties for people who litter and pollute, so it was never something that people could take seriously. The Hurl showcases the impact of such negligence and how harming the environment ultimately means we're harming ourselves. There's a disaster/sci-fi element which gives Mother Nature the power to throw or 'hurl' the garbage back onto the humans who have littered, which hurts and ultimately ends them. Having it "rain" garbage also represents a literal iteration of karma and the vicious cycle: we litter, nature recollects our trash and then throws it back at us.
The ending to me really shows how such a topic is disregarded by many and is perceived as trivial and imaginative, sort of like a child's imagination with pure play and no correct understanding of consequence. It's a public service announcement that raises awareness and advocates for changing our ways of living and protecting our planet before the reality hits us and it's too late.
I would say making this film was definitely a wakeup call. We had to collect some trash in order to incorporate it as props and art direction for the film. This showed us the huge amount of waste we, myself and my family, as a household generate within such a short amount of time. It actually pushed us to start sorting the garbage in our home and to send it to recycling afterwards.
I would say I’m proud that I was able to challenge myself to make a film about such an important subject and I hope that this film will push my community and others like myself to take the first step into the right direction, to save our planet and better manage waste. It’s heartwarming to see how more Lebanese people, and people in general, are getting more well versed with nature advocacy, and I applaud the small businesses and the local NGOs who are working so hard to provide easy-access services and facilities to help heal our planet Earth. ~Samir