By Afraa AlRemeithi
ABU DHABI — “Gaby” is a narrative short film, just 16 minutes, by Ornella Maalouf from Notre Dame University-Louaize in Lebanon.
The film, shown during the 2017 Zayed University Middle East Film Festival (April 30-May 1), revolves around the story of a father and his son returning to Lebanon after an accident that caused the mother’s death and the father’s loss of hands. It draws on the struggles of a son coping with his father’s new state of being, the loss of his dearest wife and both lower halves of his arms, and the father’s desire to continue painting with the help of his son.
To say it was amazing and beautiful would be an understatement to the outstanding skills placed into the making of this masterpiece. The film sent shivers down my spine as I longed to know what would happen next. Though the production was a mere 16 minutes long, it sent me into eternities of pressed feelings and unspoken moves to reach its climax.
The expressions on the faces of the actors carried various feelings and emotions throughout the short film. They were professional — even their eyes revealed feelings their lips couldn’t utter. I assume even the dance of their fingers and wrinkles were studied beforehand. The gazes of sadness and worrisome expressions drenched my heart in unexplainable feelings. Everything was taken care of perfectly, from the lightings to the angles of view.
The most superb scene that played with the strings of my heart was the last scene. In that scene, the son embraced his father from the back and lent him his arms to draw on the incomplete drawing he was fraught to finish. The director did a great job in closing the film and drawing it to a pleasant concluding scene.
This was outstanding edition to the ZUMEFF lineup.
Film at a glance:
Title: “Gaby”
Director: Ornella Maalouf of Notre Dame University-Louaize, Lebanon
Genre: Narrative
Length: 16 minutes, 33 seconds
This story was originally published on May 7, 2017. It was re-uploaded on Jan. 1, 2021. The photo that accompanied this story was lost due to the loss of the domain name.
