Speed Sisters
Short film Completed 2015
Director
Amber Fares
Doc Society helped with
Development
Went to Good Pitch
Runtime: 80 minutes
Follow the film
The Middle East’s first all-women motor racing team has come together, despite the odds, in the occupied West Bank. As Palestine seeks its independence, the Speed Sisters must overcome the barriers that stand between them and their personal dreams.
Long Synopsis
Brought together by a common desire to live life on their own terms, several determined Palestinian women have taken on the street car speed test circuit of the West Bank—competing against each other for the title of fastest woman, for bragging rights for their home city, and to prove that women can compete head on with men in Palestine and beyond.
Together they have been acclaimed as the first all-women motor racing team in the Middle East: the “Speed Sisters.”
Each of these women has her own story and each is part of something more newsworthy than news: the daily reality and personal dreams that live on behind stock images and breaking headlines from Palestine and the Middle East.
The lives of the Speed Sisters are more complicated than the winding slalom course of their improvised time trial tracks. For them, motor racing is a small challenge compared to navigating the complicated maps of daily life in a nascent state struggling with conflict and occupation, with development and politics, and with the tension, common around the world, between social expectations and personal choice for young women—in family, career, and love.
The Speed Sisters are doing something very simple and yet very brave. They are resisting a reality that diminishes their dreams, that tells them their future is small, predictable. In pursuing their passions and the drive to move freely in the face of the shrinking horizons under a military occupation, they are planting hope in the eyes of those who watch them race. This gives them confidence to continue to pursue their own personal aspirations, even when doing so requires pushing social boundaries.
Cars, then, represent far more than a thrill for the Speed Sisters. Taking the wheel represents an insistence on the right to mobility, a taste of hope and independence, and the stubborn belief that a larger and wider future is possible in their lives as women and as Palestinians.
Crew
Amber Fares
Director
Amber is a Canadian born filmmaker with Lebanese roots. As an Arab female director, Amber has a unique relationship with the Speed Sisters and has built a strong personal connection with the group. She is an up-and-coming director residing in Ramallah, Palestine. Her directorial debut short, Ghetto Town premiered at the 2009 Jerusalem International Film Festival and has been shown at film festivals round the world. Amber has also produced and directed films for organisations such as UNRWA, Defence for Children International and the British Consulate. Amber co-founded SocDoc Studios to continue to produce films with a focus on social issues.
Speed Sister Trailer (in Production) from SocDoc Studios on Vimeo.
