Amal Al-Agroobi’s LADIES COFFEE to be screened at the Arab Women Artists Now Film Festival

release date March 24 2024

Amal Al-Agroobi’s Arab short film LADIES COFFEE will hold a screening at the Arab Women Artists Now (AWAN) Film Festival on Sunday, March 24th at 4:15 pm at The Garden Cinema in London followed by a Q&A with the director.

The horror film’s events start when Roula invites Zeina and her daughter Reem over for an Arabic coffee matinee. When young Reem is encouraged to participate in a coffee cup reading ritual, she gets more than she bargained for.

In true Lovecraftian fashion, the ritual goes awry – she can no longer unsee what she now sees; she can no longer unhear what she now hears, and things will never be the same again.

LADIES COFFEE is written and directed by Amal Al-Agroobi and stars Faten Omary, Amira Al-Shanti, renowned British-Jordanian actress Rania Kurdi, and Hugh Meyer.

The film was produced by Isabella Speaight of Backscatter Productions and co-produced by Catherine White of Kusini Productions. It was also lensed by Beatriz Delgado Mena and co-edited by Will Fletcher and Shawn Briggs, with Stefania Fantini handling sound mixing and Simon Porter providing its musical score. Meanwhile, MAD Solutions is handling the film’s Arab World sales.

Amal Al-Agroobi is a London-based Arab filmmaker who initially came from a scientific background, getting a BSc in biomedical sciences and an MSc in neurosciences and working in a lab and hospital before joining the film industry.

Her film career began in 2012 when her short documentary HALF EMIRATI premiered at the Dubai Film Festival.

She followed that up in 2013 with a feature documentary about autism, disability, and special needs in the Middle East titled ‘THE BRAIN THAT SINGS,’ which won the People’s Choice Award at the Dubai International Film Festival and went on to change government legislation in the UAE, creating positive social impact for special needs children in education.

Amal was also one of only a handful of filmmakers from the UAE to have ever made a feature-length film.

Amal’s passion lies predominantly in social, character-driven stories that discuss identity and social injustice.

She went on to explore these themes in her films UNDER THE HAT, VANISH IN SMOKE — a science fictional piece that contained themes of sexual abuse and pedophilia — and THE PROTOCOL, another sci-fi film about family feuds, succession, and inheritance; the latter two were made for the 48-hour film challenge and sci-fi London fest. She continues to make feature films as well as television series and documentaries.