Meet Sarah Carlot Jaber

Writer and director Sarah Carlot Jaber grew up in the Middle East and today works in Brussels. With a diploma in movie direction from the IAD and a specialized master’s degree in gender studies, her interest lies in themes at the intersection of these two disciplines. Her third short film, ‘She’s the Protagonist’, a “meta” comedy questioning representation in the movies, has been presented at around 130 international festivals and won numerous awards. Sarah is currently presenting her fourth short, ‘Olga’s Eyes’, while developing her first fiction feature, ‘Tell al Zaatar, a hill of thyme’.

Director Statement

‘Olga’s Eyes’ portrays the subjectivity of an octogenarian vampire woman who is tired of killing humans. Olga, who still has all her marbles, is placed in the senile wing of a nursing home, where she meets the abandoned souls concealed behind society’s blinders and settles into a new life where words are emptied of their meaning, their essence. Losing track of history, of one’s own stories, was the driving force of this script, whose controlling idea is centered on the notion that “being old doesn’t mean being dead”.

My wish as writer and director was to make a movie that was at once poetic, cynical and eccentric. The contrast between Olga’s tragic situation and the movie’s tone highlights serious societal challenges in a darkly comedic way. It’s my way of extracting myself from an overly pessimistic worldview. I like it when people laugh, when they cringe.

‘Olga’s Eyes’ is a movie infused with social issues that nevertheless remains a true genre movie whose writing and direction have been sketched through the gender prism. Olga is a protagonist who breaks the tone as soon as it’s set. Vengeful, romantic and cynical, she perverts what surrounds her. Will the vampire give in to her lustful impulses? One thing’s for sure: her arrival will forever transform the home!

Imagining, just for a moment, these senior citizens who have been cast aside from society and become old for all eternity, that’s seeing through ‘Olga’s Eyes’.

FILM IN COMPETITION FESTIVAL DU FILM MERVEILLEUX 2024 : OLGA’S EYES

Year: 2024

Runtime: 22′08

Country: Belgium

Synopsis: Olga, a music-loving octogenarian, is tired of killing humans. Could it be the vampire blues? For her daughter Simone, she’s just being picky! Olga is placed in a care home where she can deal with those “who have one foot in the grave”.

Credits: Sarah Carlot Jaber Director. Sarah Carlot Jaber Writer. Manuela Rutten Producer. Production manager. Elsa PielotProducer. Vivane de Muynck Key Cast”Olga”. Erika SainteKey Cast”Simone (Olga’s daughter)”. Douglas Grauwels Key Cast”Louis (nurse)”. Ji Su Jeong Key Cast”Frida (nurse)”. Nicole Colchat Key Cast”Mme Farscène”
Simon AndréKey Cast”M. Farscène”. Mark DouglasKey Cast”Marc (the compositor)”. Nastasja Saerens Direction of Photography. Tina MorenoContinuity. Violette Leblond Continuity. Matthieu Jame tImage Editing
Lise BouchezSound Editing. Rebecca Jaber Makeup Artist. Lucien KellerColor Grading/ VFX. Eve de RoeckCredits Animation. Milosz Martyniak Set decorator. Clarisse d’HoffschmidtSet decorator. Margaux VannuvelCostumes. Jeff LevillainMix. Marc HazartMusical composition