A time-bending short film is winding its way to the small screen. Mobius Loop has been acquired by Watermelon Pictures, which is putting the short on its new streaming service Watermelon+ starting today. It can be viewed here.
Mobius Loop hails from filmmaker Lee Mosa-Peterkin and spans three time periods. There’s the 1970s, with a scientist (Jay Abdo) discovering the ability to see the future. There’s years later, when the inventor is on his death bed. And there’s the present day, with the inventor’s granddaughter (Dalia Rooni) attempting to unravel his technology.
Mosa-Peterkin, who is Palestinian-American, shot the film in California over just three days in November 2023 during the early days of the Gaza war during Israel’s bombing response to the Oct. 7 attacks.
“It was extremely challenging in October when we were deciding if we should go into production, because of the horrors coming out of Gaza,” he says. “My wife [producer and script supervisor Anna Dale-Meunier] and I struggled with the motivation to film anything. Then it felt like an obligation. Part of the purpose was to show the kind of protagonists Palestinians can be.”
The film had multiple technical challenges, but first and foremost was capturing three time periods, each requiring their own set design, wardrobe and props, and doing it all in three days of filming. They shot in Elysian Park, Martin Sound in Alhambra and Pine Mountain Club, an hour and a half north of Los Angeles.
Mosa-Peterkin planned closely with cinematographer Jack McDonald, set designer Melissa Lyon and costume designer Nina Rocklin to pull it off. “I used 3D clones of real world locations in Unreal Engine to prep with department heads and create the shot list and map out lighting, set design and logistics. We would never have made our days and all the time periods work without it,” notes the filmmaker, who is currently writing a feature-length version of the script.
Mobius Loop landed at Watermelon after making the festival rounds last year, taking home an honor at the Hollywood Arab Film Festival and screening at fests such as the Micheaux Film Festival and LA Shorts International Film Festival.
Watermelon Pictures is a new company from brothers Badie and Hamza Ali, who are centering their work around Palestinian stories. They backed the Oscar-nominated film The Voice of Hind Rajab and among the movies they have in the works are the Palestinian horror feature The Visitor.
As for Mosa-Peterkin, he’s happy to be with Watermelon. Says the filmmaker of the distributor’s pedigree: “I loved Palestine 36, The Teacher, All That’s Left of You and The Voice of Hind Rajab. All films from just the last year.”
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