Mango

Shorts Prog. 03, Arab Short Films

Mango

A daughter. A distant father. A dying mango tree. Nadia searches for meaning in the ruins he left behind.

Director:
Randa Ali

Genre:
Drama

Year:
2024

Duration:
22 minutes

Rating:
PG

Country:
Egypt

Language:
Arabic (Egyptian Dialect)

Subtitling:
English, French

Screenplay: Randa Ali

Cast: Mona el Husseini, Yacoub Masri, Hala Omar, Nader Fouad, Adel ElBahdaly

Cinematography: Gionatan Tecle

Editing: Randa Ali

Production: Chaos Films (Muhammad Taymour)

Awards: WWF Award -- MedFilm Festival -- Rome, Italy -- 2024

Début Status: Jordanian Première

Synopsis

Nadia is pulled back into a past she tried to forget when her estranged father dies. She travels to Helwan to clear out his home. She leaves behind the rapidly changing Cairo only to find a city, and a father, she barely recognizes. With no photos, no keepsakes, and only a dying mango tree left as a trace of him, Nadia struggles to mourn a man she never truly knew.

Director’s biography

Randa Ali is a filmmaker from Cairo working between Egypt and the US. Her work explores themes of alienation, and the desire to connect in a constantly changing world through stories of individuals and their relationship with places. Her short film Mango screened at international film festivals such as Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, Bilbao Int'l Film Festival (ZINEBI), and Cairo Int'l Film Festival. Randa is a graduate of UCLA's Directing MFA program, where she was recipient of a full-ride scholarship offered to female filmmakers from the Arab world. She is currently developing her first feature film, Rock, Paper, and Sea.