A short film by Mohammad Anwerzada — Canada • 2025 • 15 minutes.

Logline

When their mother disappears, three sisters face eviction and separation — exposing the harsh realities of housing inequity.

Synopsis

Based on true events, The Card follows three sisters left to navigate survival when their mother suddenly disappears. As unpaid rent piles up, the threat of eviction becomes real, and child services move to separate the siblings, fifteen-year-old Jessica clings to hope through a handmade Mother’s Day card — a fragile symbol of love, memory, and the belief that their family can stay whole. From the moment the landlord knocks on their door to nights spent on the front lawn, the girls confront not only abandonment but also the crushing weight of systemic discrimination that keeps them locked out of safe housing. Guided by the perspective of Jessica, the youngest, the film reveals the resilience and quiet defiance of youth forced to grow up too soon. The Card is both an intimate family drama and a larger reflection on housing inequity, resilience, and the human need for belonging.

Director’s Statement

This story grows from conversations with youth who shoulder adult responsibilities long before they are ready. I wanted to honor their resilience without turning trauma into spectacle. Jessica’s card is a small object with big meaning: a promise, a ritual, a shield. The film stays at her eye level, inviting the audience to feel the weight of small choices—answering the door, holding a lie, protecting your siblings—while larger systems tilt the floor beneath her.

The Card emerged from Productionflux’s Lived Lens program, an initiative we created and later pitched to REST while collaborating on advocacy films. Rooted in truth, the script was co-written with Veronica, who brought her lived experience of housing insecurity to the page. Jessica is portrayed by a REST volunteer, alongside participants whose own histories of discrimination shaped their performances. REST clients also contributed behind the camera, embedding authenticity into every frame.

I also carry my own lived experience of housing insecurity. As a Muslim student in New York after 9/11, I often faced the same lack of trust and exclusion these youth encounter today—sneaking into college buildings at night, or sleeping in parks when housing was out of reach. That history drives my urgency to tell this story in collaboration with the young people whose lives echo in The Card.