Khalid is the security guard in an abandoned Qatari elementary school. The camera follows him during a day as he makes his rounds through the empty classrooms and encounters remnants of the neighborhood’s past residents. Some of his discoveries remind him of the life he has left behind in Egypt. The title, “Stranger”, comes from the Arabic word “ghareeb” – a word that Khalid used to describe himself during the making of this film.

“Stranger” is a journey into this school and its past. It is also a poetic portrait of an immigrant, someone who’s left their family and friends in their home country and followed the opportunity of a better salary abroad. Someone who gave up their life in order to earn it. And someone who’s waiting for an uncertain future like everybody else in the neighbourhood.

Special Jury Mention, Ajyal Festival 2020.

Screened at:

• Georgetown University Qatar, “Film and Visual Culture in the Gulf. Transient States: Qatar New Wave”, Doha, Qatar, 2023
• Al Riwaq Gallery, in rotation during the exhibition “Lusail Museum: Tales of a Connected World”, Doha, Qatar, 2022-2023
• M7, “D’reesha festival”, Doha, Qatar, 2022
• Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, “Made in Qatar”, Doha, Qatar, 2022
• Qatar America Institute for Culture, Washington DC, USA, 2022
• Arab Film Festival, Arab American National Museum, Michigan, USA, 2022
• 27th Sarajevo Film Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2021
• Short Film Corner, Cannes, France, 2021
• Qatar Film Days Festival, St Petersburg, Russia, 2021
• Ajyal Festival, Doha, Qatar, 2020