Sayed Badreya's 'Jellyfish & Lobster' Wins BAFTA for Best Short Film

British short film ‘Jellyfish and Lobster’, starring Egyptian-American actor Sayed Badreya, won Best Short Film at the 2024 BAFTA Awards. The film had already received a host of international awards and nominations, with 11 of them being granted at the 2023 British Short Film Awards alone, including Best Supporting Actor for Badreya.

Directed by Yasmin Afifi, the dark comedy-cum-magical realism film delves into themes of aging and mortality, the inevitability of death and the mysterious pull of human connection. Following two lonely souls living in a care home - Grace (played by Flo Wilson), facing a terminal cancer diagnosis, and Mido (Sayed Badreya), suffering from dementia - the film is, at its core, about how these characters are running out of time, forced to live what remains of their life with a sense of urgency.

Following the release of the film, Badreya released a statement on his website, expressing his gratitude for the opportunity to play “as a man with Alzheimers, not a man with a gun,” referencing Hollywood’s proclivity to cast Arab men as terrorists and villains. “For almost four decades, I have been the angry Arab on the silver screen. But, once in a lifetime for actors like me, here comes a script that paints a new canvas that opens the door to different characters, and for that, I am thankful. Thank you for the opportunity to show the other faces of Arab actors.”