Echo Chamber - 383 (Witness)
Every year, we like to drop something extra on the 9th. So you get a 'Special Edition' @EchoChamberFP episode to celebrate!!!
Thanks to Shaimaa Khan at London Flair PR we were able to make this one happen. We look at an award winning short film, with a story that has an incredible power to peel back social & religious issues, leaving just raw humanity. THEN we get to speak with the co-directors (one also wrote the film), about bring this remarkable film to life! Definitely a not to be missed episode!!!
'Witness' is directed by Radha Mehta & Saif Jaan (directorial debut), and Jann also wrote the short. A revered small-town Imam (Faran Tahir) faces a crisis of faith when he must choose between upholding the values of his mosque or protecting the safety and spiritual belonging of a male congregant (Shaan Dasani).
Watch the conversation with Radha Mehta & Saif Jaan: HERE!
Today we have:
Witness - Poster
Witness
Watch Review: Here.
Tasveer Film Festival, World Premiere: 17th October 2024
Slamdance Film Festival: February 2025
Raindance Film Festival: 23rd June 2025
Director: Radha Mehta, Saif Jaan
Cast: Faran Tahir, Shaan Dasani, Nemma Adeni, Michael MacLeod, Laura Obiorah, Aydin Khowaja
Credit: Dose of Soul, Al Ghorba Productions
Genre: Drama, Short
Running Time: 14:18 min
Cert: 15
Trailer: Here.
Website: Here.
Instagram: @witness.shortfilm
Watch the conversation with Radha Mehta & Saif Jaan: HERE!
Radha Mehta
Radha Mehta
Director, Producer
Radha Mehta is a Director/Writer with an MFA in Directing at AFI, a UnlockHer Potential Mentee with HeyDay Films, WIF Directing Fellow 2025, and Recording Academy Voting Member. Her award-winning films include DOSH (Slamdance Spirit Award); Winds of Silence (16Days16Films w/ UN Women, Geena Davis Institute, Voices With Impact w/ VIFF); SŪNNA (CAPE Julia Gouw Winner); Standing With Moms (Women’s Voices Now “Best Short Documentary”); Being Gina (STARZ); and Evan Ever After.
Follow Radha via:
IMDb: Here.
Linkedin: Here.
Website: Here.
X: @RadhaMehta
Facebook: Here.
Instagram: @radhamehta
YouTube: Here.
Vimeo: Here.
Bandcamp: Here.
Saif Jaan
Saif Jaan
Writer, Director
Saif Jaan (he/they) is a trans and queer screenwriter and artist who grew up in a Muslim-Yemini and Pakistani household in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He works with liberatory themes that transcend internal and geographic borderlands. His art is inspired by the power of the people and imagining alternative futures in the path towards true collective freedom. He won the Netflix/Tasveer Grant to help make “Witness”. The film “Witness” has gone on to win the Islamic Scholarship Fund, and InsideOut RE:Focus Grant.
Follow Saif via:
IMDb: Here.
Instagram: @saifjaannn
*(Music)
'The Big Payback' (Instrumental) by EPMD - 2020