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Image Nation Abu Dhabi’s critically acclaimed feature film Scales is now available to stream on Netflix throughout the region, following an award-winning festival season and cinema releases in Saudi Arabia and the USA.
The magical-realist film, presented in black and white, follows a young girl who defies her village’s tradition of sacrificing female children to mysterious sea creatures in order to choose her own path. Scales explores the changing role of women in society through allegory, and was praised as “aesthetically tantalizing” and “teeming with sensory spirit” by the New York Times, “primal and chilling” by Variety, “gorgeous” and a “new aesthetic” for feminism in the Wall Street Journal.
After premiering in 2019, Scales has been shown at more than a dozen competitive global festivals, winning the prestigious Verona Film Club award for innovative filmmaking at the Venice International Film Festival, Best Picture at Singapore International Film Festival, and the Best Film and Best Actress awards at the Saudi Film Festival. It was selected as Saudi Arabia’s national submission to the 2021 Oscars.
Scales was produced by Image Nation Abu Dhabi, the UAE company that has multiple productions stream on Netflix. The film joins Image Nation’s acclaimed Arabic-language productions Zinzana, The Worthy and Justice, already available worldwide.
About Scales (Sayidat al Bahar)
Through the allegorical, magical-realist tale of Hayat, a young girl who refuses to be sacrificed to mysterious sea creatures by her village, Scales explores the changing role of women in society. Presented in black and white, the poetic film follows the unfolding social, familial and personal consequences of Hayat’s choice to defy tradition and walk her own path.
The film premiered in 2019 at the Venice International Film Festival Critics’ Week, where it won the prestigious Verona Film Club award for its innovative filmmaking, and has since been shown at more than a dozen competitive global festivals in cities such as London, Los Angeles, Carthage, Cairo and Singapore where it was awarded Best Picture, as well as regional festivals including Al Ain Film Festival and Saudi Film Festival. It saw a successful run in Saudi cinemas.
The film stars newcomer Basima Hajjar as Hayat, alongside Ashraf Barhom (Coriolanus, Clash of the Titans, The Kingdom), Yagoub Alfarhan (Ekhtraq, Bedoon Filter, Love Without Limits) and Fatima Al Taei (star of Image Nation’s courtroom drama Justice). The film was produced by Paul Miller and Stephen Strachan of Abu Dhabi-based Film Solutions and Rula Nasser of Imaginarium Films, with executive producers Mohamed Al-Daradji and Majid Al-Ansari.
