When pre-med student, Lina, starts experiencing severe recurring nightmares, her life begins to fall apart. She is then sent home to Beirut, Lebanon where they prescribed her the controversial antidepressant ‘Xapa’ - also known in its illegal form as ‘Joy’ - to help her recover.
However, as Lina’s alarming nightmares continue to worsen and a link between them and her birth mother, Farah, becomes clear, she sets out on a quest to uncover a web of family secrets which will lead her to a shattering ultimate truth.
Written by Hassiba Freiha who also directed it along with Kenton Oxley, Farah stars Stephanie Atala, Majdi Machmouchi, Hassiba Freiha and Youssef Boulos. The film is shot by Elias Trad and edited by Marcus D’Arcy.
MAD Solutions is incharge of the film’s distribution across the Arab world.
Hassiba Freiha
Hassiba is a writer and producer, who worked on several projects including Temperance, which follows three characters from various religions in the Middle East.
The film was screened at the Middle East International Film Festival as well as the Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival. Hassiba has also worked on several other projects including the feature film, City Island, with Andy Garcia and Alan Arkin.
Hassiba co-produced, assistant-directed and starred in the short film Wahdon (Alone) which went on to be part of film festivals around the world.
Hassiba heads the post production team at the twofour54 Abu Dhabi, media company.
Kenton Oxley
Having carved a successful career in the television and film industry, Kenton is globally respected for his work.
As a Producer and CEO of his own production services company, Knockout Production Services, Kenton has worked on multi-million-dollar blockbuster projects.
Kenton succeeded to be the youngest ever Director for ITV at the age of 20, working for media related government companies in Abu Dhabi and Malaysia.
For 6 years, he headed the Production & Global Trade department at Twofour 54.
Kenton has gained international experience for projects such as Left Bank Pictures, Top Gear, and Bang Bang.
