Directed by Afnan
special
A unique experience in the world of animation, led by Saudi director Afnan Bauyan, in the film Sleek, which shows cultural coexistence
A Saudi animated short film, “Sleeq,” directed by Afnan Bauyan, topped the list of the Saudi Film Festival in its ninth session, which was organized by the Cinema Society and in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), with the support of the Film Authority in the Ministry of Culture, and was chosen for screening at the opening ceremony of the festival. For the first time, the film carries a message of coexistence and cultural openness to the other.
The heroine of the film faces an embarrassing situation and is forced to come to terms with her neighbors who do not speak her Arabic language, in addition to that the film presents the concept of food and cooking as a language and a means of integration between civilizations.
In her interview with Al-Arabiya.net, director Afnan Bauyan indicated that her first film, “Sleeq”, of the quality of “stop motion animation”, was chosen to be shown at the opening of the Saudi Film Festival, due to its compliance with the terms and criteria of arbitration and for being Saudi and of high quality.
She said: My beginning in the world of directing was through the movie “Sleeq”, which is the first film written and directed by me after four years of experience in the world of film directing, and after working in 7 long Saudi films, as a script supervisor, and I worked on a long film as a script writer, and as a culture supervisor. And also in the Saudi movie “Kandahar”, which was filmed in Al-Ula, as an assistant director.
From the movie Sleek
the story of the movie
And Afnan went on to say: The movie “Sleeq” tells the story of an elderly woman named Hajar from the city (Jeddah), who lives alone after her children left her, either to marry, work, or study, and her eldest son used to visit her with her granddaughter (Lulu), who loves the dish of Saliq. On the expected day of their arrival, Hagar begins to prepare the bracken, but a sudden call from her son apologizes for her visit due to an emergency situation that made her very sad, and she has to stubbornly confront her independent nature when she accidentally causes birds to enter the kitchen while Hagar is busy with the call, and the rice falls from the bracken pot and the pot’s surplus accumulates Boiled rice turns into a flood that threatens her home, and a catastrophe occurs in her home. How will Hajar solve the problem while she lives in a neighborhood that has left most of its local residents and is inhabited by communities of different nationalities full of strangers, which made communication with them difficult due to the difference in language? This is what the film will present.
From the movie Sleek (2)
Stop motion animation technology
Director Afanan said: The method of showing the film was done through stop motion animation technology, and this type of film is an animation film that is not drawn and not made by computer, and depends on the technology of making real miniature shooting locations and miniature puppets made of plastic, and it is moved to make certain movements, and the Filmed every second, and therefore these images are collected to be a movement or an illusion of movement, and the Saudi films were concluded in the ninth session, and this is the first time that the films of the Saudi Festival in the 9th session opened with an animation movie..and I was pleased with the audience’s interaction with the movie during the show. Movie scenes as well as distinctive reactions.
And she continued her speech: The reason for my direction of animation films is that this world includes a quantity and space of imagination and creative freedom that enables a person to enter another world, as the story can only be implemented in this world, which adds to its credibility.
Indicating that she had a participation in the movie “The Crow’s Song” directed by Muhammad Al-Salman, as a script supervisor for this feature film, which represents Saudi Arabia in the Oscars, and also participated as a dialogue translator in an animation movie called “Beast from the Sky” directed by Maryam Khayyat.
customs and traditions
And about the idea of the film, she says: I was inspired by the idea of the film from reality after the death of my father – may God have mercy on him – and the great transformation in the strong personality of my mother, “Hajar”, and to take control of things, but I was shocked that she had changed and became more stubborn and adherent to customs and traditions and resistance to new changes, at that time I meditated a lot I wondered why the elderly are less flexible in adapting and adjusting to new changes. Thus, I set the first hypothesis of the film and built the main character “Hagar” under a circumstance or incident that makes her change inevitable, and I created a beautiful ending that I hope he learns and benefits from in reality.
And she concluded her speech: I dream of continuing to present films coming from the world of feature animation, and developing and producing a new film in the future.
