After nearly two years on the international festival circuit, where it won 39 awards and special mentions, Moroccan-British director Elias Suhail is set to release his first short film online. Beneath a Mother's Feet has been widely praised by industry professionals for its visual strength and powerful storytelling, marking a fresh contribution to Moroccan cinema. More than just the debut of a filmmaker, the short film Beneath a Mother's Feet lays the foundation for the creative journey Elias Suhail has long sought to pursue, after years spent in production roles. The film's narrative is both authentic and refined, illustrating with clarity that simplicity is often the hardest to achieve. This is, in fact, its strength: a work that transcends conventions, achieves a delicate balance, and has been rewarded with wide recognition across international festivals in Italy, the United States, Canada, Greece, Morocco, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Bahrain, and beyond. Its success also lies in making aesthetics a language of its own. Balancing the responsibility of representing a fragmented family story between Morocco and the UK with the artistic need to let cinema's magic spark reflection and debate, Elias Suhail tells part of his mother's life. Married at 13 in northern Morocco, divorced by 15, she sold her jewelry and left for Gibraltar, leaving behind two children in the hope of building a better future for them. From a second marriage, the director himself was later born in the United Kingdom. With a respectful yet intimate approach, Elias Suhail turns to autofiction to portray the mental isolation of young Wedad (played by Nisrine Adam), a character inspired by his mother, in the 48 hours before her departure. Torn between the duty of caring for her children and the weight of constrained motherhood, she makes the difficult yet courageous choice to seek a better life, even if it means leaving alone. In this interview with Yabiladi, Suhail reflects on the evolution of this writing process, which he first shared with us in 2022. You spent several years working on this short film, which now counts around thirty awards and mentions worldwide, including in Morocco. How did audiences respond? The response was very positive. I was especially curious about how Moroccan audiences would receive it. Having grown up abroad and being binational, with one foot in Morocco and the other in the UK, I hoped Moroccans would find a film where they could recognize themselves or identify familiar aspects we share. I wanted to create a sense of communion through a story drawn from lived experience. At the Tangier International Film Festival (FIFT), I received very encouraging feedback from spectators who found the work authentic. The most moving moment, however, was when my film won the Golden Cave Award in its category, in the region where my mother comes from. It was also the first time she attended a screening with the audience, which made it truly special. I tried to capture everyday life as I remembered it from childhood summers in M'diq with my grandparents. Many viewers experienced complex emotions at the film's ending, which was intentional. I wanted to provoke dialogue and questioning rather than deliver a moral. After screenings, audiences often debate the events and each character's role, and I find those exchanges invaluable. Your film tackles deeply societal themes, especially the struggles of women and young mothers. Did you receive feedback from civil society in Morocco? Absolutely. Even before filming, I connected with Souad Talsi, who founded the Al-Hasaniya Moroccan Women's Centre in London in 1985. She works extensively with migrant women, particularly Moroccans. I wanted to collaborate with her to refine aspects of the film, drawing on her vast experience with cases similar to my mother's or Wedad's. She greatly supported the project. I also reached out to Moroccan NGOs and activists, including the late Aïcha Ech-Chenna, who unfortunately passed away while I was preparing the short. Tell us about the development phase, from the initial project «Wedad» to Beneath a Mother's Feet. The process began during the 2020 pandemic. Before that, I had never tried writing, though I had long dreamed of becoming a screenwriter and director. I had been working mainly in production and post-production in the UK, but over the years, I met filmmakers who became my real film school. The lockdown gave me space for introspection and the courage to draw on my mother's stories from childhood. I began sketching a feature and applied to the Safar Arab Film Development program at the Arab British Centre, directed by British-Palestinian filmmaker Saeed Taji Farouky. That marked my start as a writer and director. I reconnected with my producer, Arij Al-Soltan, and together we adapted the feature concept into a short film for our application to the British Film Institute (BFI). I chose to condense the narrative to focus solely on Wedad's last 48 hours before leaving, rather than spanning Morocco and the UK. Pruning the story allowed me to focus on details that define the film's aesthetics, ordinary gestures I remembered from my mother and grandmother in the family home, on the terrace, in the kitchen, or at the market, small things that carry profound meaning. In the background, I often preferred symbolism and metaphor over direct dialogue. I wanted to convey emotions visually, in a way that left room for personal interpretation of my mother's experiences. Giving the role of your own mother to an actress must not have been an easy choice. How did you select the actors? I discovered actress Nisrine Adam through several contacts while searching for someone to embody the main character. The decision to cast her came thanks to the advice of my producer, who had previously worked with her, and our collaborators in Morocco. As soon as I saw her profile, I knew she was the ideal actress for Wedad. She is able to convey an extraordinary range of emotions through her expression and gaze, without the need for words. When we contacted Montfleury, the production company we worked with in Casablanca, they also recommended Nisrine, whom we eventually met. For the audition, she performed a monologue I had written based on the same story as the film. Her interpretation was so powerful that it moved us to tears. I even showed her performance to my mother, who was deeply touched. Souad Talsi shared the same opinion. I believe my mother is proud today of the film through which I sought to pay tribute to her. Autofiction gave me greater creative freedom and room for adaptation than a strictly biographical or autobiographical approach would have allowed. As for the other actors, the casting was done collectively, in the same spirit. It's important to note that Nisrine is the only professional actress in the film. I trusted our producers in Casablanca and my producer in the United Kingdom to find the right cast. My UK producer, of British and Iraqi origins, spent much of her childhood in Morocco and is Moroccan in many ways. I then met with candidates individually to select those who could genuinely identify with the situations their characters represented, particularly Wedad's father, who tries to convince his daughter to accept a new marriage. The idea behind this approach was to deliberately blur the line between fictional acting and situational staging, closer to a documentary style. During filming, I gave general directions and guidelines, but I left most of the dialogue improvised. This choice was meant to bring a greater sense of realism to the fiction and add more cinematic depth to non-verbal communication. Beyond the actors, the extended team of the film reflects your concern for preserving local references. Your collaborators were mostly Moroccan professionals, and you shot in Morocco. Was this a personal choice? It was important for me to integrate Moroccan professionals into the team, and it was also the most practical choice for filming. With our Moroccan producers in Casablanca, Montfleury, I only heard praise for those who later became my collaborators. I was not disappointed, they handled the project with exceptional professionalism, and I highly recommend them to all filmmakers planning to shoot in Morocco. On Beneath a Mother's Feet, our collaboration went smoothly on every front. We complemented each other perfectly, along with our producer and our director of photography, Will Hank. I am grateful for all these encounters and for the creative synergies that emerged from them. You also launched a crowdfunding campaign to complete the film. What did that teach you about the economic model of the film industry? I was fortunate to receive funding for the film through the BFI network. As generous as that support was, it wasn't enough to cover the entire production cost. We therefore launched a crowdfunding campaign to bridge the financial gap, and I also had to invest my own savings. As I am still at the beginning of my career as a filmmaker, I realize that in the current economic climate, perseverance is essential to bring projects to life. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many people were willing to support this work, even during a global economic crisis that affects everyone differently. Still, funding will always remain a challenge. Each project raises the question of diversifying sources and exploring co-productions. I am currently in contact with the Doha Film Institute, and I am preparing another project in Morocco, which I hope will also receive support from the Moroccan Cinematographic Centre (CCM). For now, as a newcomer to directing, I am still discovering how the entire chain operates. I believe the path forward is to proceed slowly but steadily. Do you still plan to develop your short into a feature-length film? Absolutely. While I have set aside the feature film sketch for the moment in order to work on other projects, the creative process for a longer version is still underway. It will take time, because beyond the technical achievement, it is also a responsibility. For now, I am developing another feature film set in the 1930s. In the meantime, I am looking forward to the Marrakech Short Film Festival (September 26 to October 1, 2025), where Beneath a Mother's Feet is competing for two awards. I am always delighted to receive distinctions, as they are a reward for hard work and an encouragement to continue telling stories through cinema. But more importantly, it is about connecting with audiences and creating a bridge between them and cinematic works. Festivals provide a space for these encounters, which I truly value. They are renewed opportunities to exchange closely with people, as well as with other filmmakers and professionals from across the industry. Article modified on : 10/09/2025 18h31
