DHAHRAN: It was Ramadan 2025 when two seasoned Saudi storytellers from Jeddah \u2014 Sara Masry and Rulan Hasan \u2014 met for the first time. Masry, an actress and budding filmmaker, and Hasan, an established writer and director, connected instantly; bonding over shared traumas and exchanging ideas for potential collaborations for hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt started as talking with a stranger, or someone who I didn\u2019t really know before, and it ended like I was talking to myself,\u201d Hasan tells Arab News. By the end of a long night sipping coffee, they had decided to make a film together.<\/p>\n
The result is \u201cAssutur,\u201d a 16-minute short that the pair co-wrote and co-directed that feels like it could be ripped from the headlines from anywhere in the world, yet is specific enough to be a relatable Saudi story.<\/p>\n It follows a young woman (played by Masry) who is forced to face her demons at a family funeral: she needs to either speak of the trauma she endured as a young girl, or continue to suffer in silence forever.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat the film talks about is interfamilial child sexual assault, and I think it\u2019s a really important subject to discuss \u2014 not just the fact that it happens, but that it happens everywhere in the world \u2014 even here in Saudi Arabia,\u201d Masry tells Arab News. \u201cAnd then what happens is that the survivor feels the shame is projected onto them. They think they did something wrong, and the perpetrator, many times, doesn\u2019t face an ounce of accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n The story was one Masry had been thinking about writing for a long time, she says. \u201cIt talks about issues in society that we tend to ignore \u2014 all around the world \u2014 but which I feel like we need to be able to discuss in film.\u201d<\/p>\n The film had its international premiere at the Saudi Film Festival in Dhahran this summer, securing a Jury Special Mention award, and has been selected for the Human Rights category of next month\u2019s online Kaaffilm International Short Film Festival.<\/p>\n Both women were present at the SFF and could be seen interacting with the audience after their screenings, exchanging emotional reflections with women and men.<\/p>\n \u201cThe SFF is such a huge platform for people to come and watch films, and it\u2019s one way, as a filmmaker, you can reshape the conversations that are happening in Saudi society, because a lot of the audience members are Saudi,\u201d Masry says. \u201cSo many people came up to us. Actually, along every step of the process of making the film \u2014 the people involved, people who auditioned, makeup artists\u2026 many women came up to me. Not that it\u2019s just something that happens to women.\u201d<\/p>\n Often, people would say that they felt \u201cseen,\u201d she said, and would then share their secret shame that they had not dared utter out loud until the film gave them the courage to.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is art at its best,\u201d Masry says. \u201cArt can sometimes make it easier to bring up these subjects that, a lot of the time, are too taboo to talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n For Hasan, watching the film on the big screen has been cathartic.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing I noticed after both screenings (at the SFF) \u2014 and I took a video of that just to make sure \u2014 is that it took people a while to clap,\u201d she says. \u201cWe all understand it\u2019s a heavy topic. If you make an audience think and feel, it usually will take a little bit of a delay. And then they clapped and it felt really good, but the thing that I am most grateful for is the conversations that we had with people. They get it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn many societies \u2014conservative societies especially \u2014 for reasons of honor and shame, and pride, and marriage prospects, when a disclosure happens \u2014 from a victim or survivor \u2014 the main priority is to just shut it down and keep it quiet, sweep it under the rug,\u201d Masry says.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd in an Arab society, we have to put it under the rug and just move on from that,\u201d Hasan chimes in.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a really big rug at this point,\u201d Masry continues. \u201cIt\u2019s a very dusty rug \u2014 if we don\u2019t actually talk about it and find ways to address it.\u201d<\/p>\n Now that the film is out, what would she say to her younger self?<\/p>\n \u201cI would tell her that we got here,\u201d Masry says, with misty eyes but a beaming smile. \u201c\u2018You did it. And you did it with a team that collaborated with you. You\u2019re changing the narrative \u2014 literally.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Rulan](\"https:\/\/assets.maestronewsroom.com\/media\/30f6532d-717b-4366-9158-9c455299fcd9\/1790226625410-2a700686b2e520b3.jpeg\")