Samira Saraya’s Cover is a rare gem whose every facet radiates its brilliance, conveying entire worlds of feeling in its tightly constructed 12 minutes. Cover focuses on Sabrin (Fidaa Zidan), establishing the distance and incongruity between her calm exterior and the turbulent inner world she hides, through poetry in narration – “what volcano is erupting deep within you” and close attention to her body and gaze.
The film is set in a traditionally feminine space – a hair salon. It’s a place of physical and emotional intimacy, a place where secrets are revealed, for many women, a safe enclave where they find support and community, and emerge feeling beautiful and ready to face the world. Sabrin is there with her mother Suaad (Abeer Zeibak Haddad), getting their hair done for a cousin’s wedding. As the hairdresser (Noam Shuster-Eliassi) consults with Suaad about styling, conversations float in the air, flowing from Arabic to the occasional Hebrew, situating the salon in a cultural space where Arabs and Jews are neighbors and friends. An elderly client Ruth (Ruth Geller) speaks of love and passion; Sabrin’s watchful eyes linger on Chris (Anur Juur) the manicurist. Her gaze reflects the depth and complexity of her feelings while her hands casually turn the pages of a magazine.
Caught between the performative “cover” she presents to the world and her inner truth, Sabrin reveals the strength of her character, asserting herself where she can, despite the limitations of a conservative culture, insisting that she will wear a pantsuit to the wedding. Saraya finds a joyous way to convey the significance of belonging to a community, as the typical comment to a single woman – maybe you’ll find a groom at the wedding – turns into a spontaneous dance and all join in, even Sabrin takes a turn singing a verse. Coming out of the closet in this community may put one’s life in peril, but there are other dangers as well. Shunning, exile, and estrangement from family and community – although they leave the body intact, pierce the soul.
The entire cast delivers strong performances that convey the warmth and intimacy of the hair salon, the many ways that women support one another, the prejudice that can reside in the most educated and intellectual of minds, and the courage to speak out against it. Zidan delivers a moving performance as Sabrin, her expressive eyes and body language conveying the pain, longing, and struggle of someone forced to live a lie.
Cover will be screened at the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival in Program 1 of the Short Independent Competition. Tickets are available on the TISFF website.
Cover
Director, Producer: Samira Saraya; Cinematographer: Talia Tulik Galon; Producer: Harel Ben Melech; Production company: Harel Ben-Melech, Tiara Films; Editor: Ayelet Ofarim; Cast: Fidaa Zidan, Anuar Juur, Abeer Zeibak Haddad, Noam Shuster-Eliassi
