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Director Mahmoud Sabbagh, actor Hisham Fageeh and actress Fatima Al Banawi tell us about “Barakah Yoqabil Barakah.”
“Barakah Yoqabil Barakah,” (or Barakah Meets Barakah, in English), takes place in Jeddah and revolves around Barakah and Bibi falling for each other and wanting to publicly meet in a rather conservative society.
The film stems from the idea of space. Sabbagh explains, “I wanted to make a movie about public space over the past 20 years and how limited it has become now. But because it is a dry subject, I had to incorporate the “boy meets girl” story; it shows the struggles of meeting in public. I wanted to tackle issues with humor to voice the concerns and frustrations without tarnishing the society.” 
Although the movie is about a relationship and exhumes a lot of humor, Sabbagh is still not on board with calling it a romantic comedy. “I don’t like calling the movie a ‘romantic comedy,’ but I am used to it being described as that now. When I did the movie, it didn’t occur to me that I was playing with this genre, I just wanted to create an organic, grounded and original script,” he elaborates.
Speaking of the script, Al Banawi describes what first attracted her to it. “I liked that the script goes beyond an apologetic and victimizing narrative, which I often experience watching international and local films about Saudi Arabia, the Arab World, and/or Muslims in general. Instead, Barakah’s script is funny for us local Jeddawis, and equally so for the international audience. I was captured by the script’s attempt to depict the individual characters rather than the usual categorizations of race, religion, class or color.”
About the possibility of the movie garnering reservations, she replies, “The love story depicted in the film is not foreign to people’s eyes; the film only narrates, often with little alteration, what people might have already experienced or heard of in their communities and their own private worlds. If anything, we shouldn’t be afraid of love, we should be afraid of hate.”
She reveals her excitement during the movie’s first screening. “The realization hit me when we were asked to come forward to the stage for the Q&A segment. I was eager to hear audience’s questions and to listen with an open heart to the comments of film critics.” 
As for Hisham Fageeh, he was surprised at seeing himself on the big screen. “The first time I saw the film in Berlin, I couldn’t believe that there I was, almost 3 meters high. My veins were about to explode,” he laughingly recalls.
Fageeh also explained how everything the movie required was done so immaculately. “The subtitles had to be really sharp to translate things idiomatically and linguistically. Also, each character has his or her own style of subtitles, so the older characters have their special way of speaking and hence subtitling. We even worked on having the laugh timing as the same in order not to miss a beat. So they’d be reading the punch line as the character utters it.”
“Barakah Yoqabil Barakah” will be released across the Middle East this month, so stay tuned.
Twitter: BYoqabilB
Gool Bas La Tgool is the perfect game for a family night. Created by Saudi Trifecta, the game forces players to describe a word or action without talking. Struggling to decipher a rough run is so much fun to watch. Available at Virgin, Jarir and Saco.
Wala Kilma is the first product of Nard Games, to be out soon. Launched by Summer Shesha, Turki and Abdulrahman Gazzaz, Nard Games focuses on reinventing games for maximum fun. Wala Kilma is the classic guessing charade game with a twist as it contains Arabic and English words along with action cards that add bonuses to the players. It will be available at corporate events in the near future.
Rock. Paper. Scissors was initiated by Rola and Rafah, a play therapist and an entrepreneur, respectively. It provides a wide assortment of games that engages all family members away from the digital world. Although a lot of their games are sold out now, they will be available in a couple of months, so check them out.
I work full time in a Saudi digital and social media marketing agency in Jeddah, I’m also a professional photographer with an eye for food photography and styling. My passion for cooking arose while studying in Manchester and continued ever since.
Unfortunately, graffiti has been deeply linked to males, as the most well-known names in this arena are of men. Kamal responds to that by naming some of the most talented graffiti female artists out there, “Mad C, Steffi Bow, Lady Jay, Faith 47, Maya Hayuk, Swoon, Hera, Miss Van, Myla, Cbloxx, Christina Angelina are all influential female graffiti artists. I even chose my graffiti name “Pink In” to support all females around the world and also to prove that we can do anything. For me, “Pink In” doesn’t only stand for the color but also for feminine power.”
Kamal also responds to some people’s views of graffiti being an eye soar and a mean of sabotage. She has chosen to be its voice and to cement its stature as a unique form of art, and not simply scribbles on walls. She relates, “Even though, most people still think that graffiti art ruins the environment and should be a crime, others are supporting us and believe it really looks good.” People can see Kamal’s art around Jeddah like at Al Rawdah Park, Flamingo Mall, Red Sea Mall and Obhur.
Hanan Kamal wishes to spread her art everywhere and give women their rightful place in the graffiti arena. “I want people to see the imagination of artists through their art work and I want to make the world a better and more colorful place.”
