Caravan is a unique film that delves into the cacophony of thoughts of people from different walks of life trapped in a traffic jam.
Shot in one day at The Pearl-Qatar, this film helmed by Suzannah Mirghani is the featured Short Film of the Week by Doha Film Institute (DFI).
The film examines the daydreams of a cross-section of Doha residents as they explore their inner thoughts.
From serious preoccupations like work and the future to mundane ideas like maths tables and music, the film’s various characters engage in a flurry of thoughts as they sit in their cars awaiting daily life to begin again.
“Caravan kind of represents a Gulf society to me. It represents what our society in Qatar is like. It’s extremely multicultural, everyone in different cars speaking a different language. People are here for different reasons,” said Mirghani.
With a keen eye and attention to details, the filmmaker weaves a story that hints on the kind of life each of the characters lead.
“The story came from my personal experience of being a daily passenger in the backseat just watching other people and imagining what they’re thinking, imagining other people’s lives,” Mirghani recalls, adding inspiration can come from all places that the filmmaker may find interesting.
The film was made in a DFI filmmaking workshop and since the film required many actors, everybody in the workshop was involved in the film, she said. It was screened in the 2016 Ajyal Film Festival.
“I started the film with the DFI lab and I ended the film with the DFI screening at Ajyal Film Festival. It was really a great experience to have this film from beginning till end as a DFI experience,” she added.
Mirghani is a writer, researcher, and independent filmmaker, who highlights stories from the Arab world. Being of multicultural Sudanese and Russian backgrounds, she is interested in stories that examine the complexity of identity.
Apart from Caravan, she has made several other short films, including Msheireb Oral History Films (2017), There Be Dragons (2017), Hind’s Dream (2014), and Hamour (2011).
Caravan was uploaded on Thursday on DFI’s YouTube channel as part of the second season of its Short Film of the Week initiative.
Launched in April, the initiative brings the very best of DFI-supported films for film enthusiasts to enjoy in the comfort of their own homes. The initiative aims at encouraging people to stay home amid COVID-19 pandemic while lending support to Qatari films and Arab cinema.
The series kicked off with the short narrative Al Johara” helmed by Qatari filmmaker Nora Al Subai. Other films which had been featured were Amer: An Arabian Legend by Jassim Al Rumaihi, Red by Kholood Al Ali, Elevate by Hamida Issa, In the Middle by Mariam Al Dhubhani, The Unlucky Hamster by Abdulaziz Mohammed Khashabi, Gubgub by Nouf Al Sulaiti, Land of Pearls by Mohammed AlIbrahim, Smicha by Amal Al Muftah, Kashta by AJ Al Thani, and 1001 Days by Aisha Al Jaidah.
