Interview: Raed Alsemari and the Sundance-winning short film Dunya's Day

By Chris Olson

In a recent interview I did with Saudi filmmaker Raed Alsemari, we chatted about the importance of casting. This was essential for his short film "Dunya's Day" in which a socialite has her big celebration ruined when her hired help decides to abandon her. Faced with throwing the party herself, with the help of a few friends, things go from bad to worse as she realises the extent of her predicament. It was so important to get Dunya cast right, she needed to be portrayed as not just a spoilt character, but also someone we would root for.

Watch my filmmaker interview in full with Raed Alsemari below:

I am always fascinated by new filmmakers that achieve this level of quality in their short films. To win a prize at Sundance is incredible and to do that using a cast and crew who are relatively fresh is even more so. I would mark Alsemari out as one to watch but I feel the Sundance film festival has done that for us already.

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