Project Detail

Arifa

Synopsis

A dark comedy-drama, that follows the story of Arifa a British-Pakistani woman who reaches a crisis in her life when the escalation of her feelings for intriguing but evasive ‘professional gamer’ Riccardo, coincides with the reappearance of her estranged father, Hameed.

Details

Year
2017
Type of project
Features
Running time
91 mins
Format
HD 2K
Director
Sadia Saeed 1st Feature
Producer
Peter Leslie
Co-Producer
Kevan Peterson
Executive Producer
Mike Whelan, Elizabeth Patterson
Editor
Peter Leslie
Screenwriter
Sadia Saeed
Director of Photography
Giuseppe Pignone
Production Designer
Jeff Schell
Sound
Matt Price
Composer
Mike Lindup
Principal cast
Shermin Hassan, Luca Pusceddu, Jeff Mirza, Rez Kempton, Shazia Mirza

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

Shono Productions Limited

Sadia Saeed

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

A smartly dressed woman and man sit side by side in a waiting  room, sharing a quiet smile. Marriage Test

Director: Sara Nourizadeh

Year: 2026

Set in a mosque waiting room in 1980s South Wales, and inspired by the true story of writer-director Sara Nourizadeh's parents, a young couple whose relationship crossed boundaries of culture, faith and expectation. At a time when Iranian politics dominated UK headlines and shaped public attitudes, a Welsh woman and her Iranian fiancé prepare for an Islamic conversion ceremony – a requirement they must fulfil if they are to marry. What follows is a quietly charged and emotionally intimate portrait of two people trying to navigate a moment that is both deeply personal and subtly political. As they wait for the ceremony to begin, small details – a trembling hand, a whispered joke, a fleeting moment of doubt – reveal the emotional stakes beneath the surface. Their conversation dances between humour and tension, affection and uncertainty, reflecting the push and pull of family pressures, cultural misunderstandings, and their own hopes for the future. Authentic VHS archive footage of the real couple is interwoven within this scripted drama, grounding the film in lived experience and offering an unexpectedly tender glimpse into the decades that followed.

Colourful bugs made with oil pastel and cut out on paper, on a pink background Foreign Bodies

Director: Lysander Wong

Year: 2025

A simple itch descends into an outbreak with many legs. Certain things will always find their way to the surface. An exploration into the horror of having a body, of unbelonging.

Animation image - Strange creatures circle a pink creature, who is holding a yellow strawberry. Eye Jam

Director: Julia Jolliffe

Year: 2025

A lonely creature’s desperate struggle for connection in a desolate world - whatever the cost.