Sleight
2015 · 11m · United Arab Emirates
Directed by Faisal Hashmi
Tones: dark, tense, theatrical
A late-night radio host goes on air ranting about his hatred of magicians; when a caller who claims to be one phones in, the conversation spirals into something genuinely sinister. Shot in Dubai.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Radio host hates magicians, magician calls in, everything goes wrong in the exact right way. Dubai-shot horror short that understands dread lives in what you hear, not what you see. The format is the trap — and it closes perfectly.
Hashmi running a Pontypool gambit — late-night radio rant against magicians, the wrong caller phones in, dread spirals. Voice-and-implication horror, modestly successful within its budget.
Faisal Hashmi using a late-night radio talk show as the entire mise-en-scène for a dread spiral — all voice, no visual magic. The Pontypool-lite format works.
Festivals
- Midwest Horror Short Film Festival 2015, Best Film Finalist
- Sacramento Horror Film Festival 2015
- Middle East Film and Comic Con 2015