'The Red Sea Makes Me Wanna Cry' was Alrjoob's thesis film at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.
MAD Solutions has acquired worldwide distribution rights to Faris Alrjoob’s short film The Red Sea Makes Me Wanna Cry, which premiered at Cannes Film Festival 2023. It was the first-ever Jordanian short film to compete at Cannes.
Written and directed by Alrjoob, The Red Sea Makes Me Wanna Cry takes place in a ghostly town in the South of Jordan and follows the haunted Ida, who travels to the site of her partner’s disappearance in an attempt to feel his presence one last time and say goodbye. This languid character piece wanders through aesthetic conventions of the cinematic American West and the romantic spirit of the Mythical Cowboy.
Shot on Super 16mm and co-produced by Alrjoob and the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, this German-Jordanian romantic thriller speaks to the indescribable feeling of souls in transit.
Alongside main actress Clara Schwinning, the film also stars Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, Anwar Khalil, and burgeoning Jordanian actor Mohammad Nizar, who is represented by MAD Rising Celebrity.
Based in Berlin, Alrjoob is an interdisciplinary artist working within the fields of film, video art, and performance. In his work, he strives to experiment with aesthetic form and texture to explore the politics of his multiple identities in a confessional act of resistance and self-expression.