The Lebanese film Farah was ranked eighth in the list of most watched films on the global platform Netflix in Lebanon, in the first week of its release, and was directed by duo Hassiba Freiha and Kenton Oxley, with Stephanie Atta.
On December 10th the film reached third place, then ranked fifth for two consecutive days, December 14th and 15th, and is still in the most watched chart, and this comes after its commercial launch from Thursday November 24th at its home in Lebanese theatres, and its shows have kicked off in Emirati cinemas since early this December. .
Since the beginning of her career, Farah has won 4 awards, as she won a special award at the 10th anniversary of the Chelsea Film Festival in the United States of America, and at the Alexandria Film Festival for the Mediterranean Countries, the film won Best Debut Award and Mahmoud Abdel Aziz Award for Best Art Direction by Musa Beydoun and Nizar Nassar, also won Best Narrative Film Award, Lebanese Film Festival in Canada, and received its world premiere at the Beirut International Women’s Film Festival and also attended the San Diego Arab Film Festival.
Farah has received much positive acclaim from critics, as critic Mohamed Hijazi wrote: ‘Farah is a good Lebanese drama. The scenes were smooth, spontaneous and fluid, and the characters successively expressed their characteristics through brilliant image and voice clear”.
As critic and journalist Khaled Ali wrote about it, “If you are looking for an intelligent and inspiring work of art, then you should not miss watching Farah’s film.”
The events of the film begin when Lina, a medical student, begins to suffer from severe recurring nightmares, her life begins to fall apart, and thus she is forced to return to her homeland, Beirut, Lebanon, and get a prescription for the controversial antidepressant Zappa, known in its illegal form as Joy, to help her recover.
However, as Lina’s nightmares take a turn and her bond with her mother Farah becomes apparent, Lina embarks on a journey to uncover a web of family secrets that will lead her to the ultimate truth.
The film is written by Hassiba Freiha, co-director of the film with Kenton Oxley, with Stephanie Atta, Magdi Machmouchi, Hassiba Freiha, Youssef Boulos, cinematography by Elias Trad and editing by Marcus Darcy. MAD Solutions is responsible for the film’s Arab distribution.
Hassiba Freiha is a writer, producer and director, she has worked on dozens of short films, including Temperance, screened at the Middle East International Film Festival and the Short Films Corner of the Cannes Film Festival, after which an independent online platform acquired her distribution rights .
Hassiba’s other productions include City Island with Andy Garcia and Alan Arkin, the National Wildlife Federation project Campus Chillout!, with former Vice President Al Gore, Academy Award-winning producer Jeff Skool and Academy Award-winning producer Lawrence Bender.
Subsequently, Hassiba produced, starred in and helped direct the film Wahdan which screened in several international festivals around the world.
In addition to starring in several other short films, she was hired by twofour54, a government-backed media services company, to work as a reservations manager before moving up the ranks to become a department head. During that time, Hassiba continued to develop her skills in filmmaking and oversaw the post-production of two feature films.
Kenton Oxley has built an internationally recognized career in the film and television industry. As a producer and CEO of his production services company, Knockout Production, Kinten has worked on several commercially successful multi-million dollar projects.
Kenten managed to become ITV’s youngest director in his 20s, worked with the governments of Malaysia and the UAE, and headed twofour54’s production and international trade department for six years. Kenten has gained extensive experience from international artists such as Top Bang Bang, Left Bank Pictures and Gear.
