Eid Mubarak (2023) dir. Mahnoor Euceph

Earlier this week Muslims celebrated Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of month-long fasting during Ramadan. The title of our short is a traditional greeting of that holiday and can be translated to “Blessed feast (or festival).” I learned that in preparation for writing this and include it here because I am writing from an area of the world where Judeo-Christian traditions dominate in public awareness (and I expect most of you reading this are likewise). Yet this holiday story rings familiar nonetheless, with its child protagonist attempting to rebel against tradition and save a favored animal – as I watched this I vaguely remembered a TV movie along these lines about saving a Christmas Goose. Turns out I had the wrong holiday but was probably recalling Beau Bridges family project The Thanksgiving Promise (click link for a… different approach to youth/livestock friendship).

Of course nothing in the last three-and-a-half minutes of this short would get on the Disney Channel in 1986 or now. This film’s conclusion is far more honest  than a fantasy that the world will bend to your way of seeing things to give you a happy ending. Yet the young Iman’s feelings gett validated nonetheless  – “It should not be taken lightly,” her father tells her. A bold choice; not even Western poet of farm animal mortality was brave enough to have Wilbur end up in Fern’s toilet.

“Eid Mubarak” is a good example of the way production design can enhance a story, with Iman (Rubab Rasheed) walking through her Pakistani town, past candy-colored homes in Wes Andersonian compositions, even a staircase ascent lifted from The French Dispatch. It has the vivid look of the holidays, an unforgettable look even if it feels different through the years.