Director of It's About to Rain will appear at Dubai film club

Film buffs in Dubai will be given the opportunity to fire questions at the director of It's About To Rain on Wednesday night.

A scene from It's About to Rain. Courtesy Gulf Film Festival

Film buffs in Dubai will be given the opportunity to fire questions at the director of It’s About to Rain tomorrow night.

The Italian-Iraqi director and screenwriter, Haider Rashid, will be at the screening of his film – “Sta Per Piovere” in Italian – for a Q&A session at The Scene Club in Knowledge Village.

The film, which premiered at the 2012 Dubai International Film Festival, was written, directed and edited by Rashid. It was also included in the official selection of other international film festivals, including Sydney and São Paulo.

Rashid, speaking from Italy ahead of the screening, said he has “always had very nice and emotional response” to the film from UAE audiences. “What’s been nice is to see how much the film speaks to people, regardless of the fact that it was shot in Italy.” He said he hoped the event would “keep the conversation open”.

Set in Florence, It’s About to Rain tackles immigration issues and the struggle for acceptance, a hot topic of debate in Italy.

It centres on an Algerian family who have lived most of their lives in Italy, but are still surrounded by a society that continues to reject them.

Said Mahran, the film’s protagonist, who is one of the sons, is a confident and ambitious young man, born and raised in Italy. He studies and works as a part-time baker, has a beautiful girlfriend and loves football.

When his father loses his job, the family is suddenly faced with the reality of not being able to renew their residency visa.

Said’s life is drastically changed and Italy, the only country he has ever lived in, is now pushing him to “go home” to Algeria.

The film, which stars the newcomer Lorenzo Baglioni as Said, relates to a UAE audience, where many often find themselves caught between different countries and cultures.

Tomorrow’s event hosted by The Scene Club, Dubai’s monthly film club which showcases world independent cinema, is at 8pm at Dubai Knowledge Village Conference Centre.

Guests who come an hour earlier will have the opportunity to meet the 28-year-old film director, who also has two other feature-length films under his belt: Tangled Up in Blue and Silence: All Roads Lead to Music.

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