DUBAI: When Saudi multi-hyphenate Sarah Taibah speaks about her craft, there’s an electric conviction to her words. Taibah is an artist, writer, filmmaker and actor, and she describes her creative life as a continuous pursuit of inspiration.
“I think I’ve always been a creative person,” she tells Arab News. “In the beginning, I thought that being interested in many different things was me not being able to focus. But then I realized that I am an artist. So one of the major things, for me, is to do what I feel strongly about and whatever inspires me.”
“Hoba” tells the story of a devoted wife and mother — Amani (played by Bdoor Mohammed) — whose life begins to unravel when her husband returns home with a second wife, Zahra (Sarah Taibah), and an unseen dark force infiltrates her home. (Supplied)
That restless curiosity is what first nudged Taibah toward acting.
“I was doing my Master of Fine Arts degree in San Francisco, and one of my good friends asked me to act in her short film,” she says. “I just did it because I’m a creative person, not because I wanted to be an actress. And this short film really did well and went to so many festivals, and I fell in love with acting. It reminded me of all the memories that I kind of blocked from being a kid. I was always on stage in school. I’d always been in school plays and all that.”
Now, Taibah is set to challenge herself as never before with “Hoba” (‘The Vile’), an upcoming Emirati horror film directed by Majid Al-Ansari, known for the critically-acclaimed 2015 film “Zinzana.”
“I got so excited about ‘Hoba’ for two reasons,” Taibah says. “First, I like the director — I remember seeing his first film, and I thought that he does things differently. Second, I really appreciated him not typecasting me. I’m always cast by directors in certain roles that are really similar to my character — as Sarah — but with Majid, he saw something else. The character couldn’t be more different than me. I’ve never been this challenged — not only because she’s the villain of the movie, but also because it allowed me to experience different techniques, to tap into something a bit supernatural; something I have zero clue how to relate to.”
Sarah Taibah is an artist, writer, filmmaker and actor, and she describes her creative life as a continuous pursuit of inspiration. (Supplied)
“Hoba” tells the story of a devoted wife and mother — Amani (played by Bdoor Mohammed) — whose life begins to unravel when her husband returns home with a second wife, Zahra (Taibah), and an unseen dark force infiltrates her home. Zahra is as fascinating as she is frightening.
“Zahra is a very, very strong character with a strong presence,” Taibah says. “She has this toxic charm of a manipulative person, which is a very tricky part to play in horror films. It’s not like drama where you dig deep into the past of a character; you gotta work with what you have. She’s hard to really relate to or love, but I aspire for her to be that character that you really, really despise but also like for a reason that you hate yourself for. She’s fun — she’s a fun character to play.”
Stepping into the horror genre presented its own set of challenges. “It was less character work than I do with other genres,” says the 36-year-old. “It was more about, ‘We are here, we are here now. We don’t know.’ Ninety-nine percent of the film happens indoors, in one location. It could be anywhere in the world. It’s not a film where you treat the city as a character. It’s just a very confined area — just you and your psychological issues. It was such an interesting journey. I treated the film differently during preparation and tapped into something really unknown for me, honestly.”
The project also reflects a broader creative movement sweeping the Middle East. Genre filmmaking is on the rise, and Taibah herself has helped propel it forward as one of the writers of “Hwjn,” a fantasy about a romance between a djinn and a human.
“I feel it’s about time to tap into different genres and to challenge the audience (to watch something different) from what they’re used to watching, like drama or comedy,” she says. “It’s time to play with horror, magical realism, and fantasy. I feel like it’s such a blank canvas, and audiences are really hungry to see more from the region. Entering a cinema is not just about relatability — what’s true and realistic; it’s a place where you escape real life into this magical world. It’s tricky to do it right, and that’s one of the things that made me say yes to ‘Hoba.’ I truly believe in the director’s vision and the references he likes. He loves Korean horror films, for example. And I know that this is a person who’s making this attempt with knowledge and with taste.”
As for what audiences can expect when “Hoba” arrives at the end of October, Taibah says: “It’s a horror film, and we don’t have many of these (in Arab cinema). And also it has really good cinematography. I feel like it’s going to be more of a complete experience. Good cinematography, good director, good cast.”
However, she adds: “I haven’t seen it yet. I hope it’s as good as I think.”
