Over Time [Pre-Feature Short]
Over Time is a film about the impact that gentrification and technology are having on a tight-knit community living and working in Regent Park – the oldest low-income housing neighbourhood in Canada. The film follows Shafiq Hoque, a storeowner who is looking for new alternatives to supplement his income after the gentrification of his neighborhood threatens to put his convenience store out of business. Shafiq used to be a taxi driver but has recently made the switch to what used to be a more lucrative and convenient part-time job: driving for Uber. He is part of the Bangladeshi community, the second largest ethnic group in Regent Park. A large portion of men in the community work as taxi or Uber drivers, doing their best to make ends meet in an industry that seems to constantly be in flux. Motivated by the need to support his family any way that he can, Shafiq continues to drive for Uber, although his income steadily decreases as the number of Uber drivers increase on the roads of Toronto. He has strong opinions about his work, both past and present, unafraid to admit that both taxi and ride-share companies are making profits disproportionate to the income of the drivers. Shafiq is charismatic and opinionated, worldly-wise and politically astute. He is heavily critical of the systems that govern his life while unabashedly maintaining a humorous and openhearted perspective. Through his eyes, we get a glimpse into one of the fastest changing industries and neighborhoods in Toronto today.
Director
Mariam Zaidi is a South Asian documentary filmmaker based in Toronto, Canada. Mariam first received a grant from Breakthroughs Film Festival for her directorial debut Safar: Journey (2014). This short went on to premiere at a number of festivals world-wide and won Best Short Documentary at the We Care Film Festival in the UAE.
After completing her MFA in Documentary Media at Ryerson University, Mariam went on to work in various roles for high-profile Canadian documentary films that have travelled the world including, Min Sook Lee’s Migrant Dreams, Nisha Pahuja’s The World Before Her, and Noemi Weis’ Milk. She is a Hot Docs Doc Accelerator and Shaw Media Hot Docs Diverse Voices fellow.
In 2017 her short film Over Time received the WIFT & DGC award at Reel Asian Film Festival.
Alongside her independent film work, Mariam holds the position of Associate Programmer for Canadian films at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and oversees the growing Breakthroughs Film Festival as Executive Director.
Festivals/Awards
Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival