Does it Hurt Too Bad to Look at me?

Shorts Prog. 02, Arab Short Films

Does it Hurt Too Bad to Look at me?

On a desert road trip to meet her future in-laws, Merna begins to question her relationship, her future, and herself.

Director:
Rana Wael Matar

Genre:
Drama

Year:
2024

Duration:
15 minutes

Rating:
PG12

Country:
Jordan

Language:
Arabic

Subtitling:
English

Screenplay: Rana Wael Matar

Cast: Maha Al Ghazal, Salah Zabeedi, Mohamed Sobaih

Cinematography: Renad Bahadir

Editing: Mohamed Essam / Shift Studios

Production: NEOM Media / Rose Panthera

Début Status: Jordanian Première

Synopsis

Merna's journey begins with a tense lesson behind the wheel from her father. Her destination: a future tangled with her demanding fiancé, Amr, and his distant mother. After her father drops her off, Merna joins Amr for a long drive across the vast desert, where wild camels and towering mountains blur past. But Amr's insistence that she meet his gaze pulls her into a quiet battle for control. With every mile, Merna's certainty cracks; her relationship, her future, and her own sense of self begin to unravel.

Director’s biography

Rana Matar is a Jordanian filmmaker with a Bachelor's in Filmmaking and Cinema Studies from Effat University. Her short fiction Does It Hurt Too Bad to Look at Me? premiered at major festivals like Cairo and Red Sea. She directed, shot, and edited the award-winning documentary Your Voice Only, which won the Netflix Award at the British Film Institute's Future Film Festival 2025. Rana's comedy series Leh Ya Soad is being developed at the Mosalsalat Screenwriters Lab. She trained across NEOM Media sectors as their first internal intern and worked in programming at Red Sea Film Festival. Featured in Marie Claire and Mojeh, she is recognized for inspiring women filmmakers in the Middle East.