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Award Winner

Festival Season:

February 2026

BAAB

BAAB

Directors:

Writers:

Nayla Al Khaja
Nayla Al Khaja, Masoud Amralla Al Ali

Producers:

Nayla Al Khaja, Jude Stephen Walko, Sultan Saeed Al Darmaki

Run Time:

1:37:00

Awarded for the following Category(s):

Awarded Category(s)

BAAB is a dark fantasy that unfolds through the fractured mind of a woman reeling from the sudden death of her twin sister. Plagued by the eerie hum of tinnitus in her left ear, she is drawn into a surreal world where grief takes on physical form. As she descends through three visceral stages, depression, anger, and bargaining, her reality begins to distort, blurring the line between the living and the dead. Set in an isolated Emirati landscape steeped in myth and memory, BAAB explores the intimate violence of grief and the unspoken bond between twins. What begins as a psychological unraveling soon reveals something more otherworldly, a doorway ("BAAB" in Arabic) that may lead to closure... or something far more sinister.


Submitter Statement

Director - Nayla Al Khaja

Key Cast

Shaimaa El Fadul - "Wahida / Nisma"

Huda Alghanem - "Umi Fatma"

Meera Almidfa - "Amal"

Mansoor Monem Saeed Mohamed Alnoamani - "Tariq"

Sabiha Majgaonkar - "Surooji"

Elham Al Marzooqi - "Lulwa"

Other Credits

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