DUBAI: Cinemas are slowly starting to reopen across the Middle East and there are a slew of new releases to look forward to. In particular, “Sayidat Al-Bahr,” or “Scales” in English, Saudi filmmaker Shahad Ameen’s black-and-white dystopian fantasy.  

 The film, which was created by Image Nation Abu Dhabi, was recently picked up by Saudi distributor Cinewaves Films, and is set to make its debut theatrical release in cinemas across Riyadh, Jeddah, Tabuk, Jizan and the Eastern Province on Nov. 12.

The fantasy film, made in the UAE, tells the story of Hayat, a young girl living in a village with a tradition of sacrificing female children to mysterious sea-dwelling creatures in the. When her time comes, she decides to break with tradition and forge her own path.

It premiered in 2019 at the Venice International Film Festival Critics’ Week, where it won the prestigious Verona Film Club award and has been shown at a number of international film festivals including in London, Los Angeles, Carthage, Cairo and Singapore where it was awarded Best Picture.

Ameen — known for her short film “Eye & Mermaid,” which premiered at the Dubai Film Festival in 2013 — said that the film is an artistic comment on patriarchal societies.

“‘Scales’ tells a visceral story about growing up as a woman in a patriarchal society, offering an allegorical take on a universal theme that will resonate with audiences around the world, Ameen said in a released statement at the time the film debuted.

Ameen attended the film’s socially-distanced premiere this week at AMC cinema in Riyadh, alongside the film’s stars Yagoub Al-Farhan and Basima Hajjar.

The private screening was followed by a live Q&A session between the cast of the film and a variety of well-established filmmakers, critics, media and cinema enthusiasts.