Saudi director Abdulaziz Alshlahei’s upcoming feature Hobel, about a Bedouin family living in isolation in the desert because its patriarch believes the end of the world is near, has unveiled first look images.
The drama is Alshlahei’s third feature and collaboration with writer Mufarrij Almajfel after Zero Distance and The Tambour of Retribution which was Saudi Arabia’s Best International Feature Film Entry for the 94th Academy Awards in 2021.
The allegorical picture is set in the 1990s, a pivotal period of change for Saudi Arabia triggered by the Gulf War, which saw the country briefly start to open-up to the outside world after years of isolation, sparking cultural and social clashes between long-standing traditions and new waves of change.
In the movie, the mother considers rebelling against the patriarch when a young daughter falls ill and needs medical treatment, sparking an urgent need to come out of isolation.
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