FRAGILE
A short film
To heal Khalid must return home to confront his father and a past that haunts him.
Genre: Drama
Year: 2025
Running time: 13 min
Language: Arabic
Director & Writer: Malak Quota
Producer: Aasem Al Hajj
Cinematographer: Victor Rius
Khalid, a man who is physically and emotionally injured is unsuccessful in many aspects of his life, his personal life and job are all failing apart and memories of the sea haunt him.
He returns home after being away for a long time to attend his brother’s funeral but does not attend. He discovers the pain he caused his father, but they clash over the past. He develops a relationship with Baraa, his eleven-year-old nephew who is taking on the role of his father.
Wanting to heal, Khalid takes a step towards changing his life, but his past unravels and uncovers a truth that changes everything. He manages to reconcile his relationship with his father and help heal his family around him and himself.
This film took a long time to happen.
It went through a drastic evolution in the writing phase, starting off as a fantasy film in which people could physically break and reform.
Year after year, and all the way till shooting story edits were happening.
For all my films, I have to storyboard and think about the colors and mood.
Below is a look at how my boards manifested into the film.
The production took two days, and we were not able to capture much of the B-roll. The scenes of the flashbacks could not be shot.
For the flashbacks, I used Runway, and then frame by frame drew over it all on Procreate.
The editing took the longest time. I finally had to remove myself from the original script and really cut it down to tell the story better.
Even after its release, the film went through extensive editing.
