A Conversation with Nadia Fall, Ebada Hassan & Safiyya Ingar (BRIDES)
Brides, premiered in the World Dramatic Competition at Sundance 2025, marking the feature debut of acclaimed theatre director Nadia Fall. The film follows two teenage Muslim girls – Doe (newcomer Ebada Hassan) and Muna (Safiyya Ingar) – who run away from their lives in a British seaside town with plans to travel to Syria. Set in 2014 at the precipice of ISIS’s rise, this intimate road movie explores the intense bonds of teenage friendship while grappling with complex questions about belonging, identity and radicalization. Through its non-linear storytelling and naturalistic performances, the film aims to look beyond sensationalized headlines to understand the human experiences that can lead young people down dangerous paths.
The film represents a significant collaboration between the British film industry and international partners, backed by the BFI, Film Cymru Wales, and the Italian Ministry of Culture. Fall assembled a predominantly female creative team, including Italian cinematographer Clarissa Cappellani and casting director Shaheen Baig, who discovered newcomer Hassan through an extensive open casting process. Shot on location across three countries, Brides emerged from Fall and screenwriter Suhayla El-Bushra’s shared desire to challenge mainstream media’s reductive portrayals of young Muslim women, while telling a universally resonant story about youth, friendship and the search for purpose.
Hammer To Nail: Time plays an important role in this film as it bounces around revealing different things from the past that contextualize moments in the present. For Nadia why did you want to approach the story in this way and for Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar I assume this was not shot chronologically so how did this bouncing affect your performances/preparation?
Nadia Fall: We had a long dramaturgical process working through the time bending of the film. Once we got into the edit, the world was our oyster. We could be as poetic/experimental as we wanted. I wish we could just press a button and find that perfect sequence but we had to try a lot of different methods. That was the fun bit though, trying to see what works best, the sequences wound up changing a lot in the editing room compared to the script.
Ebada Hassan: For me, reading the script there was definitely a lot of back and forth and it took a while to get my head around that. It’s so integral to the story though. It makes it such a compelling story though. Even though it was not shot chronologically, All the flashbacks were shot at the same time. I was in the same headspace for that period and it made sense. I did not have to contextualize my mindset very often. When we were traveling in the film, we actually went to those locations, so it was easier to get into that state of mind.
Safiyya Ingar: I am not a morning person. That is one thing I have never understood about film. Why do I gotta be up before the crack of dawn? Because of that I need things in place to know what I am doing on the day. I draw out a timeline with post it notes or cards. I’ll include the scene I am going to do on the day and the context for the character. I will glue it to the wall and first thing in the morning I will walk over to my wall in full zombie mode and look at what needs to be done on the day. That’s my prep!! I came up with the process myself. The hardest things to film were the scenes at school, before they were on their grand adventure, just being themselves. Weirdly being out in the world felt easier than the regular stuff. I don’t think the characters were built for a normal life, that is why they do what they do.
NF: I don’t usually like flashbacks in film, however, I like flashbacks in the present tense like they do in that film Manchester By The Sea. The trauma of that protagonist is so in the present tense that it’s almost as if it’s happening all at once. I did not want some kind of dreamy flashback that takes us out, I wanted to be there, in the moment.
Safiyya Ingar and Ebada Hassan appear in Brides by Nadia Fall, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Neon Films/Rosamont
HTN: The film has some imposing cinematic moments like the montage, and the bouncing timelines, however, from scene to scene it feels very naturalistic. Nadia what were you and cinematographer Clarissa Cappellani going for with the look of the film. Ebada and Safiyya, how did you work to develop your restrained emotional reactions which express so much and match the realistic energy the film has.
NF: So many films have inspired me for this one. A major one was Thelma and Louise which is just the greatest friendship/adventure of two women. It’s also about emancipation and misogyny and all of that. I wanted to do something akin to that but the budget was just too extreme, I then saw Never Rarely Sometimes Always. That beautiful film gets into the heads of these characters with loads of close ups. At the end of the day it’s these two girls telling the story and I found that so powerful. Clarissa and I were set up on a date and hit it off. We were getting to know each other and started trusting each other. I had seen the work she had done and loved it. I was someone who was focused on performance and close ups and she had some different ideas, but that’s where the art was made. I love her to bits. Through three different languages, countries, cultures we were able to find a look. We combined our tastes.
SI: I really do struggle with restrained reactions. I am not a restrained person. I got ’tisms up the wazoo. A lot of it was Nadia telling me to reel it in. I learned so much on this project. It was my first lead in a film and I had to learn how to reign it back. It was such a balance because Muna could not push Doe away too much or else they would not be friends. What makes them work so well is that balance. Muna does not have that balance with anyone else. There is something in Doe that she trusts, wants and needs. She pulls back on so much she wants to say and do because it would be too much for Doe. Even though they argue and Muna can be manipulative, there is always a part of her that needs Doe. I need to take a step back and really figure out the exact energy I needed on set that day to not alienate her.
HTN: There is a very arresting moment early on at a laser tag place. The sequence within the arena is beautifully helmed and transitions seamlessly to hard hitting reality with this confrontation. Nadia what was your thinking behind this moment and Ebada and Safiyya what was important to you here?
Nadia Kim: Laser Tag is a children’s game. I needed to remind the audience of the youth of our characters. I loved the glow in the dark effects in the arena. Ebada, this is her first acting job, she has not even done drama school! This is incredibly nuanced and high level acting chops. We did not have a lot of rehearsal but that little but really allowed us to nail it. I know there is a cliche about film directors not speaking to actors, however, we did speak to each other and went deep on the context. They also did a lot of improvisation themselves. If I could buy more time, I would make more room for improv. I wanted to jump from them in their hometown as children into the laser tag and back into the cold reality of what they were doing.
SI: This scene is really about our proximity/association to violence. I love this scene because it’s that weird idea, you put plastic weapons in the hands of black and brown children and all of the sudden we are threats. It should be something that is fun for every child. It is a weird reality. For halloween I dressed up as a character from The Mummy and when I got off the tube I was circled 3 times by station security. This was last year on Halloween day. Things like that are not missed on children like us. Even if you look at that sword from a distance it is obvious how fake it is. Kids of color always live with this fear. So when you get this fun setting like laser tag, it’s still going to be synonymous with violence. We can never just have a good time existing with white kids doing what we are doing. How we look is all that matters to these people. It was nice to be able to do what I did on a set and know there would be no judgments.
A still from BRIDES
EH: I like that scene a lot. It represents so much. One minute the girls are playing with white children and then they find themselves in an altercation just because of how someone perceived them. It just goes to show how just by simply existing we can be a threat. The scene touched me a lot because growing up I have seen how others look at me and my family. It takes the innocence from children at a much younger age. A lot of us have had to grow up quite quickly.
HTN: The sequence at the dinner table is quite powerful. It’s a scene that is dense in terms of the many ideas it is tackling. It works as a nice microcosm for this society. Nadia what was your thinking behind the moment and Ebada and Safiyya you guys have very different reactions to what’s going on at dinner. What were you hoping to get across at this point in the journey?
NF: We got into our stride during that scene. None of us are Turkish and we had to be a part of this Turkish family and depict this culture. We decided to do it like a half scripted improv. Doe is so hungry for family. She has a mother that loves her very much. She is homesick and this is a moment of relief to remember her family. Muna’s character does not have that warm bath at home. She is always hyper vigilant and does not trust easily. She has to be because of the household they are from. You see who they are very quickly based on their response to the situation.
SI: It was fun working with the older ladies. They were so beautifully grounded. It was hard not to feel like a child around them. They are just such beautifully grounded women speaking in Turkish. I felt like an outsider in a good way. It is terrifying when you are in a scary setting and the only card you have to play is that these are women so we are less likely to be harmed. I feel like Muna navigates the world like that. The only reason she is there in the first place is because she sees it as less of a threat than any other plan. She’s able to get into her sleep clothing and doze off. It was such a wonderful energy in that kitchen. I wanted to have fun, but obviously my character’s energy was somber at this moment so I had to hold back my excitement. There was a point where Clarissa told me I can enjoy it, but I said I did not want to!
– Jack Schenker (@YUNGOCUPOTIS)
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