The Cut

Shot in the old medina of Casablanca, Morocco, during the festivities of Eid al-Adha, The Cut is a short film exploring the Muslim tradition of animal sacrifice.

Following the multiple stages of the ceremony leading up to the sacrifice, the film depicts the mystical atmosphere of the festival, emphasising on the gestures associated with the ritual and the labour of hands as they execute the passage from life to death.

As the sacrifice takes place, the images and the materiality of the film are also subject to dismemberment. The continuity of the film is disrupted, altered by dust, scratches and light leaks. The editing itself is at times interrupted by jump cuts, the images run in reverse, the scenes disassembled and reassembled. The Cut questions the integrity of the filmic body through a formal play of fragmentation.