release date January 27 2024
THE RED SED SEA MAKES ME WANNA CRY’s Euro tour in full swing, screening in 3 different festivals
Fresh off the success of its recent screenings on January 24th at Germany’s Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis, Faris Alrjoob’s German-Jordanian short THE RED SEA MAKES ME WANNA CRY is moving full-steam ahead on its European tour and is featuring at two other festivals across the continent.
The first-ever Jordanian short to be selected for Cannes has two more screenings to go at Max Ophüls Preis — one on January 27th and another on the 28th.
It will also be featuring in tandem at Italy’s Florence Short Film Festival on the 27th before its highly anticipated screening in Ireland’s Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF) on February 28th at 1:30 pm as part of the DIFF’s Shorts Program 2.
Previously, THE RED SEA MAKES ME WANNA CRY won the El Gouna Film Festival's Silver Star For Short Films. It also played at several prestigious film festivals, including the International Cinematographers' Film Festival (Manaki Brothers) in Macedonia, the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in Canada, and Deutscher Kurzfilmpreis, where it was nominated for the Lola for Best German Short Film.
The romantic thriller follows a haunted Ida, who travels to the liminal site of her partner’s disappearance in an attempt to feel his presence one last time and to say goodbye.
In his interview with director Alrjoob, which was published on Directors Notes, Berlin-based Film Critic Redmond Bacon commenced his conversation by describing the film as “a tale filled with shimmering mysteries, utilizing elliptical storytelling, enigmatic voiceover, and a strong command of camera movement and tone to suggest multiple hidden meanings lingering in the background.”
Starring burgeoning young Jordanian actor Mohamed Nizar, German actress Clara Schwinning, and Emmy-nominated American-Palestinian-Kuwaiti journalist-actor Ahmed Shihab Eldin, and Anwar Khalil, the short film was produced by top German film school Film-und Medienstiftung NRW.
THE RED SEA MAKES ME WANNA CRY is directed, written, and co-produced by Faris Alrjoob; co-written by Matthew LaPaglia; co-produced by Luisa Stricker and Luma Al Hamarneh; lensed by Mahmoud Belakhel; edited by Benedikt Strick; and distributed worldwide by MAD Solutions.
Faris Alrjoob is an interdisciplinary artist working within the fields of film, video art, and performance, based in Berlin, he is a graduate student at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne and previously at Emerson College in Boston.
In 2020, he directed his short film THE GHOSTS WE LEFT AT HOME, which world premiered at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in Germany and screened at prestigious festivals like the Malmö Arab Film Festival, the Red Sea International Film Festival, and the Internationales Frauenfilmfestival.
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