Hayy Cinema | Saleeg (2023)

Program overview

Director: Afnan Bawyan Country: Saudi Arabia Year: 2023 Language: Arabic, Urdu, Tigrinya Subtitles: English Sixty-year-old Hajer lives alone in Historic Jeddah. She prepares the famous local rice dish “Saleeg”. She hears the bell of the grocer outside. She hurries to the living room window, and neglects to cover the pot. The birds fly in and begin to nibble, but accidentally knock off the rice into the pot, and it begins to cook and expand in size. While Hajer struggles with the Indian grocer who fails to understand her, Saleeg fills the entire kitchen and overflows into the rest of the house. Hajer panics and grabs a ladle and scoops Saleeg into multiple plates and sets them in the hallway. Someone knocks at the door, her neighbor’s daughter Shams is offering a plate of food, but Shams freaks out at the Saleeg and runs away. Hajer asks her foreign neighbors for help, who do not understand her. Saleeg floods the rest of the house and into the yard, carrying Hajer outside.