2019 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film.

A man appears on the hood of a truck in the middle of a muddy forest holding two things - a roll of toilet paper and a shattaf asking a simple question, do you wash or wipe? He proposes that there is a “smarter way” to clean up after bathroom usage that is far superior to toilet paper or “the other way” which he will demonstrate. The driver of the car appears and begins to attempt to wipe his car clean with toilet paper, drawing on visual comparison’s to another kind of mess. Wiping doesn’t work, which leads to the narrator introducing shattaf, a bidet water hose. The puns throughout the script are made to reiterate the argument that there is no comparison to using water and asks viewers to join in the cause to share the film with brands that have yet to install a shattaf.

Cultural/Context information for the jury

Rehlat is a travel booking application that understood the needs and anxieties of the Middle Eastern traveler. One of the biggest anxieties of travel for the Arab community is hygiene after bathroom usage, as toilet paper is not enough to rinse off. In fact, when Arabs travel abroad they compensate for the lack of a Shattaf with home-made alternatives like plastic water bottles, wet wipes, and other less convenient options. The excuse when a case for a shattaf is made, is that toilet paper is enough, however scientific studies have proven that even beyond its negative effect on the environment, the usage of toilet paper in isolation of water is unhygienic and sets the stage for irritability and infections. Because of the nature of how a shattaf is used, the topic is not something that would ever be discussed publicly in the culture.

Tell the jury about the production design/art direction.

We had to say number 2 without being able to say it in words. So we showed it visually through mud. Lots of it. As it is the world our story revolved around. The choice of art direction and colors were carefully put together to complement the feel of the world we are creating.