The Mountain and The Flower (2025)
Directed and written in collaboration with filmmaker Mohamed Abdullahi, this film and poem, narrated by Khadijah Charif, centers around the subjective perception of time passing. Featuring Yeandya Teklu as The Mountain, and Shacur Ali as The Flower, the two experience the discovery of the present moment through a nonverbal conversation. The project was filmed on 16mm Kodak Vision3 film stock.
The Mountain and The Flower (2025)
Directed and written in collaboration with filmmaker Mohamed Abdullahi, this film and poem, narrated by Khadijah Charif, centers around the subjective perception of time passing. Featuring Yeandya Teklu as The Mountain, and Shacur Ali as The Flower, the two experience the discovery of the present moment through a nonverbal conversation. The project was filmed on 16mm Kodak Vision3 film stock.
The Rug Dealer (2024)
From atop the mountain, a promise of profit leads The Rug Dealer to Noir City, where he faces misfortune and is plunged into a nightlong odyssey.
The Rug Dealer (2024)
From atop the mountain, a promise of profit leads The Rug Dealer to Noir City, where he faces misfortune and is plunged into a nightlong odyssey.
Sangak (2024)
Amidst the backdrop of social revolution, a baker quietly performs their traditional craft.
Bread is symbolic of sustenance, history, and culture, while also regarded as an economic indicator; its basic affordance and accessibility may distinguish the health and prosperity of a society. This animated short film visualizes the making of Sangak, an Iranian flatbread, which translates from Farsi into “little stone” for the small heated stones it is baked on top of. Reflecting the concept of the quiet encroachment of the ordinary, the subtle act of baking maybe considered as a form of resistance to the external chaos and an assertion of one’s own agency. The film utilizes stop motion animation, paper, pen, pencil, and collaged photographs.The background plates are high resolution images of 13th century ceramic tiles from Kashan, Iran, sourced from The Museum of Islamic Art in Türkiye.
Sangak (2024)
Amidst the backdrop of social revolution, a baker quietly performs their traditional craft.
Bread is symbolic of sustenance, history, and culture, while also regarded as an economic indicator; its basic affordance and accessibility may distinguish the health and prosperity of a society. This animated short film visualizes the making of Sangak, an Iranian flatbread, which translates from Farsi into “little stone” for the small heated stones it is baked on top of. Reflecting the concept of the quiet encroachment of the ordinary, the subtle act of baking maybe considered as a form of resistance to the external chaos and an assertion of one’s own agency. The film utilizes stop motion animation, paper, pen, pencil, and collaged photographs.The background plates are high resolution images of 13th century ceramic tiles from Kashan, Iran, sourced from The Museum of Islamic Art in Türkiye.
Adhan (2023)
An experimental short film exploring the relationships between the African diaspora, Islam, and selfhood. The film interprets the adhan, the Islamic public call to prayer, as a religious tool of testament, spiritual bridge between existences, and an apparatus to deepen one’s connection with the divine while existing in the conceptual category of “the West”.
Featuring Somali/American actress, Samira Diriye, and the vocal recitations of her sister, Hanan Diriye Hassan, the project was filmed on Super 8mm Vision3 Kodak film stock. Photos from the Amon Carter Museum’s repositories of 19th century expansionist American landscape photography were digitally altered and fictitiously adorned with minarets - the part of a mosque where the call to prayer is projected.
Adhan (2023)
An experimental short film exploring the relationships between the African diaspora, Islam, and selfhood. The film interprets the adhan, the Islamic public call to prayer, as a religious tool of testament, spiritual bridge between existences, and an apparatus to deepen one’s connection with the divine while existing in the conceptual category of “the West”.
Featuring Somali/American actress, Samira Diriye, and the vocal recitations of her sister, Hanan Diriye Hassan, the project was filmed on Super 8mm Vision3 Kodak film stock. Photos from the Amon Carter Museum’s repositories of 19th century expansionist American landscape photography were digitally altered and fictitiously adorned with minarets - the part of a mosque where the call to prayer is projected.