Review: Cinema Sabaya (2021)
Review: Cinema Sabaya (2021)
Perfectly illustrates how film is not just a creative craft but a personal process too.
Cinema Sabaya – Official U.S. Trailer | Dir. Orit Fouks Rotem
Watching a group of women transform into filmmakers is one of the most empowering acts of defiance seen in contemporary cinema in a long time. Standing behind the camera, director Orit Fouks Rotem presents nine women in front of the camera who have stories to tell and the cameras to do so.
When an ensemble of Arab and Jewish women sign up to a film production workshop, it begins as a creative and skill based endeavour but becomes more like a group therapy session. Through their creative process and experimentation with the medium we learn both about the vast ways that women experience modern life, as well as how liberating film creation can be.
Though we barely leave the film classroom, Cinema Sabaya takes us on a multitude of journeys. Each of the enrolled students represents an entirely different life and experience as a woman: a single mother, a mother of six with an abusive husband, someone who remarried, a single woman, a woman who lives on a boat with her dog and a career-focussed woman. It feels reductive to label the characters like this but the film only has a short time (91 minutes) to introduce such a substantial core cast, so they largely establish their defining features in relation to their relationships and family situations.
However, it perfectly illustrates how film is not just a creative craft but a personal process too. The women are encouraged to talk about their dreams (ranging from being a star to learning to drive - the latter perhaps being the ultimate symbol of modern freedom) and are given the chance to know each other on a deeper level. It’s not so much a case of ‘a picture tells a thousand words’ but more like ‘a 30 second film clip breaks away from a hundred years of artistic suppression’. Resultantly, they quickly form a creative and one-off sisterhood which is what makes the film so beautiful and engaging to watch.
Some of these dreams are realised through the film, and the relief that some of the characters feel in being able to create freely and explore who they are is fully tangible. The teacher, Rona, plays an important role too, not only because she facilitates the sessions and provides some structure, but her own choices bring into question the morality of documentary filmmaking and the way that we deal with conflict - especially woman to woman. Moreover, through the conversation she provokes, we gain a further understanding of the social and political complexities facing these women (though it is worrying and somewhat comforting to know that globally, women are experiencing similar feelings, concerns and challenges).
The concept of Cinema Sabaya is incredibly ambitious, especially with its multi-layered commentary on the power of film. Nevertheless, the characterisation and script mean that it maintains momentum and we learn a great amount about the characters and the female condition through how they talk to one another, and in the footage they shoot as their ‘homework’. It demonstrates how cathartic art can be and explores trauma in an interesting yet sympathetic way.
From Singing in the Rain to Mank, the meta element of films about filmmaking has long attracted awards buzz, but Hollywood fodder this is not. This is a quietly scathing commentary about the silent treatment and ignorance women receive in a western-centric and inequitable industry. Cinema Sabaya is protest in filmic form and Rotem does so with sensitivity and subtlety.
The overarching takeaway from Cinema Sabaya is that anyone, no matter their story, age, ethnicity or background, can pick up a camera and produce something worth seeing. Female stories are worthy of our time (and money). There is an audience for female driven narratives, and they deserve to be taken seriously.
Verdict: A visual loveletter to filmmaking and the perfect tonic in a world saturated by overly-long and overly-vain projects that didn't need to (re)made. Everyone has a story, but in this film, we're lucky enough to hear about eight special women's. A stunning debut feature.
Overall? ⭐⭐️⭐⭐
Big screen appeal? 🎬🎬🎬🎬
Accolade eligibility? 💡💡💡💡
Study-worthy? 📚📚📚📚📚