Sixty-year-old Hajer lives alone in Historic Jeddah. She prepares the famous local rice dish “Saleeg”. She hears the bell of the grocer outside. She hurries to the living room window, and neglects to cover the pot. The birds fly in and begin to nibble, but accidentally knock off the rice into the pot, and it begins to cook and expand in size. While Hajer struggles with the Indian grocer who fails to understand her, Saleeg fills the entire kitchen and overflows into the rest of the house. Hajer panics and grabs a ladle and scoops Saleeg into multiple plates and sets them in the hallway. Someone knocks at the door, her neighbor’s daughter Shams is offering a plate of food, but Shams freaks out at the Saleeg and runs away. Hajer asks her foreign neighbors for help, who do not understand her. Saleeg floods the rest of the house and into the yard, carrying Hajer outside. The neighbors immediately rush to help her and shovel Saleeg into pots and plates. When Saleeg is all cleaned up, a large table in the dining room is prepared for all the neighbors and Hajer to enjoy a cozy meal together.

The story for Saleeg began forming in my head when I realized that my mom is becoming older, which made me wonder, where is that strong mother that I used to know? I started asking myself, why do old people get stuck in their past? Why don’t they like to try new things? Are they going through a psychological experience that we can’t understand? I used to imagine pushing an old person towards a positive change, which could be impossible to happen in real life. Is it possible that old people change accidentally? I was always fascinated by the Ladybird children’s books, especially The Magic Porridge Pot and the scene of the pudding filling the entire village, which is an inspiration to the film.