Faizah Ambah

Shams, an Uber driver in Jeddah, is a single mother with two obsessions: her only child, Makki, and her African desserts. Shams struggles to convince Makki to follow the traditional path of marriage and to show any interest in her desserts. In fact, Makki’s passion unravels as he decides to participate in a hip-hop competition, which could lead to winning an extended trip to France and separate them for the first time in their lives. Shams is forced to decide which is more important: losing her son or finding herself.

The year is 2004. France has passed a law banning religious symbols in public schools. Mariam, born in France to Arab parents, recently began to wear the hijab after performing the hajj with her grandmother. At the start of the academic year, she pretends the new law does not exist, as she does not want to acknowledge it and so be forced to make a decision. To complicate matters, Karim, a popular young Arab boy in school, starts paying attention to her and she develops a powerful crush on him. While her fellow veiled classmates argue with teachers about their desire to keep wearing the hijab, and her parents argue about her wearing hers, Mariam dreams of Karim, despite her best friend Sophia’s warning that he is not serious. Things come to a head when the deadline for removing the hijab or facing expulsion falls the same week Mariam sees Karim with another girl.

When cinema comes to the old neighborhoods of Jeddah, the lives of three teenagers are forever changed by the experience.