Growing up, we are taught that you shouldn’t judge someone or have a certain perception of someone even before you have had the chance to meet and communicate with them. This beautiful award-winning film by the talented director Mario Morin shows light of that and shows that in fact, sometimes we have more in common with people that we don’t know.

You are introduced to Arthur and his mother who are having mother and son bonding time in the park. When his mother gets a phone call, Arthur goes off with his friend Theo to play football. When Theo kicks the ball really hard, it rolls behind the bench of a woman who is wearing a Hijab. With Theo being afraid to get the ball due to the stereotypes he has heard about women who dress and look like her, Arthur goes to retrieve his ball and ends up having an insightful conversation with her, making him realize, they have more in common than he would ever know.

Matt Hébert plays Arthur. He does a fantastic job of showing us just how curious children’s minds are, and even if they may ask questions that may offend some people, they just want to know the truth. Najat Elwafy is perfect as Mounia as she does a perfect job of holding back her frustration against Arthur when Arthur says a negative statement, she perfectly portrays the emotions of anger but withdraws, as she realizes that Arthur is just a child.

We are not surprised that this is an award-winning film. Some of Sacred Hair’s film awards include the Audience Award and the Jury Special Selection Award at Providence Children’s Film Festival and the Shibuya Diversity Award at Short Shorts Film Festival in Japan.

This is a film which speaks volumes and is incredibly relevant today. It sheds light on the kinds of prejudice some people face every day and instead of us being closed minded and believing the stereotypes that we hear, we should embrace people who are different to us as we may share more with them than we think.

Sacred Hair – Teaser (Cheveux sacrés – Bande annonce) from mariooo on Vimeo.