Experiencing Interruptions?

The Choice

"The death of a family pet raises questions about how to deal with the body: Burial or cremation."

Alicia, the mum, played by Ana Henriques, holds beliefs that go against Tom’s, her husband, played by Daniel Simão. However, they must put their differences aside to teach their daughter, Amelie (the child), played by Vitoria Lima, about death. Wandering between dream and reality, Amelie (the adult), played by Catarina Flor, makes a crucial choice, considered in the order of spirit, as the destiny of matter in the life of humans to prolong glory, dignity and honor, after death.

  • Abdelmoula El Hadi
    Producer
  • Abdelmoula El Hadi
    Director
  • Abdelmoula El Hadi
    Writer
  • Tayeb Ghourdou
    Script review
  • Vitoria Lima
    Key Cast
    "Amelie (child)"
  • Catarina Flor
    Key Cast
    "Amelie (adult)"
  • Ana Henriques
    Key Cast
    "Alicia"
  • Daniel Simão
    Key Cast
    "Tom"
  • Catarina Flor
    Narrator
  • Gabriel Godinho
    Narration Portuguese Translator
  • Abdennabi Ketouy
    Art Director
  • Francisco Figueiredo
    Director of Photography
  • Herman Delgado
    Post-production
  • José Fernandes
    Administration Service Manager
  • Jorge Filipe
    1st Assistant Director
  • Oussama Rabeh
    2nd Assistant Director
  • Jorge Filipe
    Aerial Photography
  • Allan Bertoldo
    Camera & Light Operators
  • Marina Brazete
    Camera & Light Operators
  • Vitor Lubave
    Camera & Light Operators
  • Marina Patrício
    Sound Recorder
  • Yara Azevedo
    Assistant Sound Recorder
  • Ricardo Rei
    Set Photographer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    A Escolha
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    February 21, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    4,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Portugal
  • Country of Filming:
    Portugal
  • Language:
    Portuguese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.40:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Abdelmoula El Hadi

Born in 1989 in Morocco, in Kenitra in the Gharb plains, Abdelmoula El Hadi became very passionate about photography, which he practiced diligently for a good part of his life, after having discovered it in his family environment in the early 2000s.

He began to take multiple shots since his arrival in Guarda, Portugal in 2017. There may be few places in Europe, or even in the world, that can compete with the majestic views offered by this small town. It is like something from a fantastic fairy tale with its charming houses, its flower boxes, its tall Menagem tower where you will find the own peace of heart.

"Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean” Said John Muir and Abdelmoula approves. So, he continues his activity throughout Portugal then to extend it to a large number of other European countries. Working as an engineer in an international company allows him to travel regularly between Europe, Africa and America, and being passionate about plastic elements: color, material, texture, space, etc … Abdelmoula continues his quest of the world of visual arts. The gaze he has on the landscape remains, wherever he is, the gaze of a fascinated stranger, observing with curiosity the realities around him, and sensitive to the most picturesque elements that attract his attention. If he behaves like an ordinary tourist, the images he captures reflect an undeniable empathy, without excessive voyeurism. The artist has more and more the inner need to take pictures of men and women, traditions and religious practices that are both foreign and familiar to him. Are we not in the same world? All within reach of the globalization of traditions and culinary habits or even clothing? No one is stranger on earth for the artist that he is.

Thus, he embarks on cinematography, where his eye will closely observe humans, their ways, their intimacies and their convictions.
He has revealed with scrupulousness and exactitude the vision which haunts his life, and transforms the bleakest humanities and the least significant landscapes into enchantment and phantasmagoria.

Apart from all symbolism, he knew how to give to his pictures and his film a tone and light, both common to the charming tales of Lautréamont.

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Director Statement

The universe, we can only explore it through our senses conditioned by prejudices. Even Anthropopithecus saw no more than the four elements that we know. The Noppera-bō, that faceless magical creature itself, only knows the elements through its senses. But without eyes, she does not know color or light, without ears she will not know the sound of the flowing waters, and without a nose she will not know the smells of the earth. But these sensations, for which she does not have the tools to recognize, exist.
Since the big bang, the existent was classified in earth, water, air and fire. Four elements that we can spot, however are there no other elements that we do not have the means to detect?