Cannes Film Festival 2024, Melbourne International Film Festival 2024
Special Mention (Un Certain Regard), Cannes Film Festival 2024
Nader, a new schoolteacher and a closeted artist, arrives at a small and remote Saudi Arabian village. There, he meets Norah, a young woman who ignites the creativity inside him and inspires him to paint again. At great risk, they develop a delicate connection and a quiet bond. Nader enlightens Norah on the wider world outside of her tiny community, and Norah realizes that she must leave to find a place where she can be free to express her true artistic self. Set in the 90s when artistic expression was banned, Norah is a deeply moving story about the basic human need to communicate through art.
Tawfik Alzaidi is a Saudi director, based in Riyadh, who is considered to be a leading and influential member of the new cinema wave in Saudi Arabia. Tawfik began directing his own short films in 2006. His first short film The Fabricated Crime won best editing in the Jeddah Film Festival in 2007, and his film The Silence won the Gulf Short Film Award in the Muscat International Film Festival 2009. Norah is his debut feature.
Cercamon