Farah

Farah (2022)

فرح

Lina, a pre-med student, is sent home to Beirut, Lebanon, after severe nightmares ruin her life. Xapa, also known as "Joy," is prescribed to help her recover. However, as Lina’s terrifying nightmares worsen and a link between them and her birth mother, Farah, becomes clear, she embarks on a quest to uncover a web of family secrets that will reveal a shattering truth.

Date of release
2022-11-24
Runtime
1h 59m
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Director
Hassiba Freiha, Kenton Oxley

Casting

Interesting facts

Farah is a 2022 Emirates-produced Lebanese psychological thriller directed by Emirati-British couple Hassiba Freiha and Kenton Oxley. The film was written by Freiha, starring Lebanese actors Stephanie Atala, Majdi Machmouchi, Nader Abd Alhay, and Youssef Boulos. The theme song “Try to remember” was performed by English musician and mental health activist Boy George, and protagonist Stephanie Atala. The film follows Lina (Atala), a pre-med student in the US, who struggles with exacerbating anxiety, low mood, and recurrent nightmares. The story explores big pharma and mental health, as well as failing family dynamics in modern Lebanon.

Production

Emirati writer and director Hassiba Freiha wrote the screenplay in 2018. The script explores the stigma of mental illness, and the limitations of pharmacological treatment. Kenton and Freiha were inspired by their own experience, and the experiences of their entourage with mental health.

The script is in Arabic and English, and is set in modern Lebanon. Freiha chose the language mix and location based on her real life experience, being of Lebanese-American descent, and to depict the complex multicultural Lebanese society that is simultaneously very Westernized and traditionally-inclined.

Farah was directed by Emirati-British couple Hassiba Freiha and Kenton Oxley, it was shot in Lebanon between 2019 and 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first day of filming coincided with the beginning of the 2019 Lebanese protests. These delayed filming and release. Freiha commented on the mental health effects of the pandemic:

I just think that people would not have had that much discussion on mental health awareness if it wasn't for Covid. It’s made everyone more open to the subject, because show me anyone who wouldn’t have some kind of mental impact from all of that? I don't think this film could be any more needed, or more relevant, at this point.

The musical score was composed by London-based producer and composer Aidan Lavelle. The film’s theme score, Try to Remember, is performed by British pop star and mental health advocate Boy George and Stephanie Atala.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended