Private Project

My Old Grandmother

When time flies and life is boring, the only thing we wait for is death. For Myassar, my grandmother, days go by and blend into each other and all that is left to do for her is… wait. A picture will make her relive memories and, little by little, her emotions will guide her story.

  • Hadi Moussally
    Director
  • Hadi Moussally
    Writer
  • Hadi Moussally
    Producer
  • Olivier Pagny
    Producer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    يا ستي يا ختيارة
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Genres:
    portrait, family, social
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    April 30, 2014
  • Country of Origin:
    France
  • Country of Filming:
    Lebanon
  • Language:
    Arabic
  • Shooting Format:
    digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Short Film Corner - Festival de Cannes
    Cannes, France
    May 21, 2014
    Premiere World
  • Ismailia International Film Festival
    Ismailia, Egypt
    July 4, 2014
    Premiere Africa
  • Saratov Sufferings film festival
    Saratov
    September 12, 2014
    Russia Premiere
  • Seoul International Extreme Short Film Festival
    Seoul
    September 4, 2014
  • San Francisco Film Awards
    San Francisco
    August 5, 2015
    USA Premiere
    Award of Merit
  • Los Angeles CineFest
    Los Angeles
    April 19, 2015
  • Cinerama BC
    Brazil
    May 29, 2015
    South American
  • Walthamstow International Film Festival
    London
    June 7, 2015
    UK Premiere
  • The Long Day Short Film Festival
    Alameda
    June 21, 2015
  • Arab Film Festival
    San Francisco
    October 23, 2015
Director Biography - Hadi Moussally

Hadi Moussally was born in 1987 in Lebanon, a post-war time where art didn’t have enough space on the popular scene but he always had an artistic sensibility. He chose to study in Paris to learn filmmaking and especially to improve his artistic culture.
He first had a master degree in feature films at the Université Paris-Est Marne La Vallée. Then he decided to explore another side of cinema, reality film, where he had another master degree in anthropological documentary in the Université Paris 10 Nanterre, founded by Jean Rouch.
With those two degrees, he has been able to develop and give a meaning to his own aesthetic vision of an image. From one hand, the feature films studies helped him build his imaginary by creating his own world, to direct films and managing a team, and especially a sense of aesthetic. On the other hand, the anthropological documentary studies helped him developing his ability to observe the subject and catch the right moment.
Since 2012, he decided to also work in the fashion industry by making fashion and experimental films. His aim is to show fashion with a meaning and combine it with his own artistic vision. Today he directed and scripted more than 30 movies (Documentaries, Short films, Experimentals and music videos). He founded h7o7Films, production company with Olivier Pagny in Paris and The12Project, the First Alternative Fashion Network.

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Director Statement

I’ve always been obsessed with the notion of time passing by. When I learned that the Infracourts competition theme was “What are we waiting for…”,I immediately thought of the wait for death and its fatality. I booked my tickets for Lebanon, my home country, and decided to film my grandmother who is on her death bed. Even though she laughs, her face expresses a form of melancholy probably due to old age. First, I showed her a picture of herself so that memories could start coming back to her. Then, I let her tell me what the picture made her remember. To me, all she does today is wait for death because her vital needs are now her whole life: eating, sleeping and going to the bathroom. I wasn’t aware that, for her, remembering the past was so cruel. I realized that her sadness and melancholy is to know that she is like all other humans, helpless against time.