[Lauchenoiria]

Film Title (English and/or Native): The Storms
Nominating Nation (If not from the IDU, please also list region): Samara Island*
Nomination Category/Categories: Best Film, Best Lead Actor
Language: Arabic
Run Time: 109 minutes
Director: Hamid Najm
Film Rating: 18
Producing Studio/Company: Purple Lily Productions

Primary Cast:
Haneef Tawfeek as Salama;
Majida Hassan as Hafdis;
Nihal Mustafa as Anisa

Brief Summary (No more than 2-3 medium paragraphs please):
Salama is a fisherman living a simple life on the northern coast of Samara Island with his wife Anisa. After a terrible storm, half of the village, including his wife, is killed by falling debris, and Salama falls into a deep depression, seeing visions of his dead wife. He becomes paranoid and distrustful of everyone, and cuts himself off from society. In order to eat, he still takes his boat out, but declines all help from his neighbours. One day, he is caught at sea by another storm, and his wife’s “ghost” tells him he will join her soon. Instead, he is rescued by a mermaid, who introduces herself with the foreign name of Hafdis. She tells him he ought not to welcome death.

He returns to shore but finds himself compelled to return and speak with Hafdis daily – despite his prior paranoia amongst the villagers he has known his whole life, and having no reason to trust this mythological stranger. The more he speaks to Hafdis, the fewer visions of Anisa he sees. Anisa’s ghost warns him not to trust Hafdis; while Hafdis tells him that the ghost is a demon wearing his wife’s face to trick him. At first, he is confused, but over time grows to trust Hafdis more than the ghost. Despite the improvement in his depression that he experiences as he speaks with Hafdis, she convinces him to keep his isolation from other humans, and his neighbours grow to give up on trying.

One day, another storm is predicted and his neighbours all evacuate the village without him to go further inland, not wanting a repeat of the disaster that took Anisa, among others. Hafdis tells Salama that he does not need to worry; that mermaids know the weather better than humans and that he will be safe if he is at sea. He takes the boat out before the storm begins. He goes to the assigned meeting point, but Hafdis is not there. He looks around as the storm picks up, but she does not appear. Instead, a dark circle begins approaching from beneath. From behind him, Hafdis surfaces, alongside many other mermaids. Then they bare sharp, shark-like teeth, and attack. The film ends showing Salama’s broken boat washing up to shore empty, as villagers survey the storm damage in the light of day.

What makes this film special? Why was it nominated for this/these category/categories? (No more than 1-2 sentences per category nominated):
The film is among the first produced on Samara Island since the declaration of independence; and is the first to have received a full international release including translation: after its initial release in Zargothrax (before the outbreak of the civil war), it gained attention in other countries with large numbers of Arabic speakers, and from there was translated into various languages due to this popularity. The film is said to evoke “startlingly strong emotions” and “feel deeply immersive for the viewer” as they follow Salama’s descent into madness and misplaced trust, with the ending shocking audiences greatly.

Haneef Tawfeek is additionally nominated for Best Lead Actor due to his compelling depiction of someone mad with grief falling under the spell of another with malevolent intentions. His display of emotion is gripping and is credited in large part with the film’s initial popularity and ability to spread beyond Zargothrax.

Any additional info (optional, short paragraph maximum):
*Samara’s independence is not recognised by most nations, and the entry is likely to be reclassified as coming from Zargothrax by the hosts. None of Zargothrax’s three administrations will respond to any requests related to this classification, but none will object.