Gulf Film Festival Spotlight: Sun Dress

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One of the featured Emirati full-length films at the 2011 Gulf Film Festival – Sun Dress is an experimental trip down memory lane. Read below for triplew.me’s review the film…

The film starts out in Damascus, Syria – a mother and son exchange some cryptic stories about a mysterious character called ‘Halima’. The mom keeps reassuring the son that eventhough he cannot see or meet this ‘Halima’ that she does exist and that she is mythical creature of the sorts; living in the surroundings and sleeping in the sun.

Rewind to old-days UAE – where we get to meet the central characters, including ‘Halima’. The story extends to Halima’s family and the people they deal with on daily basis – from neighbors to the pigeon merchants.

The film focuses on portraying the idiosyncrasies of a society which would mercilessly shun someone based on qualities they can’t control – such as a disability. Sun Dress also plays on multiple dramatic and tragic notes which filmmaker, Saeed AlMurry, intertwines with a very specific cultural context of a past life in the country.

The events continue in a bittersweet manner – which oscillates between educational and abstract, which in turn distracts the audience from some key poignant moments.

The film does boast some great performances, especially from the Pigeon Merchant (Habib Gholoum) and Halima’s love interest.

STARRING

Ahmad Abdullah, Ammar Al Kooheji, Habib Gholoum, Hamad Al Hammadi

DIRECTED BY

Saeed Salmeen Al-Murry

SUN DRESS TRAILER

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