Céline Roustan

It’s late at night, the streets are empty and two strangers are walking home, heading in the same direction, at rather a close distance. As both start fearing for their safety, in very different ways, they attempt to deal with the situation however they can. Director Karimah Zakia Issa’s Scaring Women at Night starts from a conventional place, but as it twists its premise the film takes on a double perspective adding a unique depth to its depiction of a mundane and universal situation. 

“It’s a perspective that is seldom explored in stories with trans folx at the center”

With the project originally meant to be crafted from three vignettes, written by screenwriter Ace Clamber, as the pair began working on the third one, Clamber recalled an experience that Issa said resonated with her. From that point, the project shifted and the story developed into the one captured on screen in Scaring Women at Night. “We chose SWAN because it’s a perspective that is seldom explored in stories with trans folx at the center”, Issa shared with us. Aiming to convey the emotions of Clamber’s story, they both worked on developing the screenplay with an approach that prioritized the sound and visuals.

As the double perspective gives the narrative a unique structure, subverting the expectations surrounding the regular ‘a girl walks alone at night’ narrative, it’s the initial hook surrounding what’s going to happen to her that ignites the anxious atmosphere of the film. When it quickly twists to focus on both protagonists’ fears, what triggers them and how they try to make themselves feel safe, it’s this depth to the storytelling, combined with the pacing of the edit, which increases the compelling nature of the short and adds an almost thriller-like dimension to the short. 

Izaiah Dockery stars as one the two strangers making their way home late at night.

If you’ve ever walked home alone at night, especially not as a cis man, the experience depicted in the film will feel relatable. As DP Ashley Iris Gill’s cinematography plays with the frame, making the film immersive through the angle and the composition of the shots featuring the two characters, the visual aesthetic isolates them with their own fears. The photography combines with the other elements of production and the innovative storytelling to create a mounting tension, leaving you questioning the situation and how we would have reacted, until the climax 

Scaring Women at Night had its world premiere at the 2022 edition of TIFF before hitting the festival circuit. Issa has already received grant funding for her next short 4 Names, a narrative/doc hybrid that explores the close to home realities of modern day sex trafficking, based on the life events of recording artist, Storry. And reuniting with writer Clamber, Issa is also developing her first feature about a man, ten years into his transition, who decides to befriend his estranged father online.