Faraway

18 MINUTES

Young, gay and Arab, Omar navigates the seasons of his life in Montreal

Over the past several decades, LGBTQI+ rights in the Arab world have come a long way. However, in many places, state-sponsored repression and social stigma continue to sustain a culture of shame and fear that forces many to hide their sexuality to keep the peace, or even to survive. Despite this, queer people in the Middle East and beyond are sharing their stories.

Faraway is one such story, tenderly told. The film follows the passing of seasons in the life of Omar Al Shakra, a young Arab man living in Montreal, after he’s cast aside by his family’s older generation following a difficult conversation about his homosexuality. Directed by the Montreal-based Canadian Egyptian filmmaker Aziz Zoromba, the short documentary tracks Al Shakra’s life in the months that follow as he embraces his queerness, even as close family members, including his mother, ostracise him for it.

The warm glow of sunsets, the crisp glare of winter mornings, and the waxing and waning of leaves on trees lining city streets signal the passing of a year. Zoromba records small fragments of Al Shakra’s life as this time elapses. Phone calls with his sister reveal the details of his estrangement, as well as news about his mother’s health, as he seeks to reconnect. Meanwhile, he dyes his hair blond, and turns to a close friend and the local queer Arab community for belonging. Surrounded by like-minded others at a Montreal bar, he dances freely.

It’s often from afar and through glass that viewers watch scenes unfold. Zoromba’s fly-on-the-wall style offers an intimate lens into Al Shakra’s life, while also placing themes of distance and displacement at the film’s centre. In the pivotal final sequence, Zoromba captures a phone call between mother and son with grace, gravity and tenderness, bringing into focus the compromises that relationships, and especially loving ones, so often require.

Written by Olivia Hains

Director: Aziz Zoromba

Explore more

Two women sitting on a log outdoors, each holding a child, with greenery in the background.

An activist weaves motherhood into her world in this gentle short

Directed by Flavien Kressmann and Sarah Des Rosiers

A colourful plush owl toy with polka-dot wings hanging indoors against a polka-dotted wall background.

Again, again, again

I’m not infertile, but I experience recurrent miscarriages. I worry about how many more I can take

by Jami Nakamura Lin

Shadows on a wall, showing silhouettes of people and plants. A chair and a plug socket are partially visible.

Sticks and stones and words

A smart, educated woman, there’s no way I could have ended up in an abusive relationship, could I?

by Zoe Michaels

Photo of a cross in the sky with a blurred rainbow-coloured flag in the foreground.

Severe joy

I wanted conviction to tell me if I could be gay and Catholic. My convictions told me something bigger

by Will Martino

Black and white photo of two men by a waterfront fence, with boats and a hillside town in the background.

Stealing my father

I’d long had a rocky relationship with my dad. Then, a predatory caregiver took over his life

by Mark Teich

Abstract painting with bold orange, yellow, blue and black curves and shapes overlapping dynamically.

A kaleidoscope? A milestone? Beyond description? Women put orgasms into words

Directed by Bronwen Parker-Rhodes

Two clay faces with minimal features lying on a dark surface in a close-up photograph.

A woman must break apart to make herself whole in this surreal, stunning animation

Directed by Chu-Chieh Lee

Two children’s dresses lying flat, one blue the other white with floral patterns and colourful smocking.

The daughter I never had

I loved my three sons but still yearned for a girl. Why did this fill me with such shame?

by Emma Wilkins