Trama

In the heart of Riyadh, where desperation and opportunity collide, MANDOOB brings forth the gripping tale of Fahad Algadaani, a mentally fragile man racing against time to save his ailing father.

Director note Growing up in Riyadh and living there for the past 37 years, I have followed its social and economic changes. This diverse and newly changing city, Riyadh, has become an important global center, where people from all over the world are flocking to. And with this growth, I witnessed the city become central, urban, and more accepting of a new change led by a new generation, and with this massive growth, what happens to whoever lives in it as an individual? And what kind of mental pressure and loneliness can someone feel in its wide crowded streets? Fahad's personality drew me in because of his sincerity and his true search for solutions to deal with the pressures of life in a city that doesn't wait for anyone. I was always drawn to underground subcultures in cities, and I know that Riyadh has many of these underground labyrinths and intersections and social phenomenons that not many see in everyday life on the surface. MANDOOB follows Fahad's story which interacts with these underground phenomena to become a real test for him and for the viewer. I think that all of us have a Fahad inside them, this person that struggles to reconcile his responsibilities and his ambitions with his feelings in a world that is moving way too fast and doesn't pay him much attention most of the time. Fahad comes from a poor family and neighborhood in Riyadh, which represents my own childhood where I lived in Ministries Neighborhood (Alwazarat) in the nineties, I developed this sense of irony and sarcasm by dealing with everyday hardships, that is the reason why I see that MANDOOB will have be infused with sarcasm because it revolves around situations that I have myself gone through. Through MANDOOB, we will take you through the different societal classes in Riyadh, through the poor and rich neighborhoods, through the eyes of Fahad, the delivery app driver.