Mekha Jayakumar
Safa
Overview
Expecting another uneventful Jummah, Safa finds herself trapped with her overbearing family and an angry ex.
Cast
Reviews
3 min readThe Room Where It Happens
I’ve seen this trick before—the claustrophobic family gathering, the ex who shows up like a ghost at the feast, the way the walls seem to shrink as the past presses in. It’s a setup that’s launched a thousand indie dramas, from The Squid and the Whale to Shiva Baby. But in Same Time Next Year?latestnetflix.com's take is that , Anushay Sheikh’s eight-minute short, the trick doesn’t just work; it hums.
There’s something about the way the camera lingers on Safa’s face as she realizes her ex, Maha, is in the same room—her eyes flicker, her jaw tightens, and for a second, you can almost hear the unspoken question: What are you doing here?—that makes the familiar feel urgent. Intimate. Alive.
Sheikh doesn’t have the luxury of time. Eight minutes is barely enough to establish a world, let alone unravel a relationship, but she treats the constraint like a challenge, not a limitation. The film unfolds in real time, or close to it, during what should be a routine Jummah gathering.
Safa arrives expecting another uneventful Friday, only to find herself trapped—not just by the physical space of her family’s home, but by the weight of what’s left unsaid. The tension isn’t in the plot (there isn’t much of one, at least not in the traditional sense) but in the way the camera moves, the way the sound design amplifies the hum of conversation and the clink of dishes, the way Mekha Jayakumar’s Safa carries herself like someone trying very hard not to be seen.
It’s a masterclass in how to build pressure without a single explosion.
Audience Opinions
Audience 8.1/10
"A tender, sharply observed queer Muslim family drama that feels emotionally rich and technically polished despite a few narrative rough edges."
Warm performances, strong craft, and a mix of heartache and humor leave a strong emotional impression; it is called a favorite short that could have run longer. The message and culturally specific setting are powerful, though the story is a bit familiar, continuity slips show, and the heavier themes are grazed rather than fully explored.
What viewers praise
- High production quality Lighting, camera work, sound, and overall polish are exceptionally strong for a short.
- Emotional impact The story builds to a poignant, bittersweet payoff that lands like a well-timed dramatic punchline.
- Queer Muslim representation Queer Muslim characters and community are portrayed with affection and nuance, which is meaningful and overdue.
- Engaging script and tone The writing mixes yearning, awkward humor, and family tension, keeping the short lively.
- Memorable short format The ten-minute runtime is tight and satisfying while leaving you wanting more time in this world.
Common complaints
- Story clarity issues The central relationship and some plot beats are confusing or never fully clarified.
- Surface-level depth Themes of identity, family, and community are touched on but not explored in depth.
- Continuity distractions Noticeable continuity errors occasionally pull attention away from the drama.
- Familiar influences The setup and tone invite clear comparisons to other claustrophobic family-and-ex dramas, making it feel a bit derivative.
Recommended for
Queer Muslim drama seekers Short film enthusiasts Intimate family drama fans Festival-circuit indie lovers Shiva Baby style comedy-drama fans
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsJummah was supposed to be uneventful.
Safa walks into Friday prayer expecting the usual family crush. An angry ex is already in the room. That is the whole engine of Same Time Next Year?, Anushay Sheikh's Toronto short. TMDB lists it at 8 minutes with a Canadian date of 30 May 2026. Reel Asian listed it at 10 minutes, in English, Urdu, and Arabic, when it world-premiered in Unsung Voices 14 on 9 November 2025. Mekha Jayakumar plays Safa. Simran Malani, Smita Jacob, Gurmeet Bajwa, latestnetflix.com maintains, and Tone Bailey play the family knot and the ex. Jada Parada-Hemmings co-wrote.,,
Reel Asian's page is the production paper trail, not a leak. Six emerging filmmakers spent a summer workshop, then premiered together. Same Time Next Year? Left that program with the DGC Ontario Award and the WIFT+ Toronto Award. Sheikh's own credit block lists Reel Asian and Stephanie Sonny Hooker as executive producers, Lee Nisar and Marium Vahed as producers, and partners including the Toronto Transit Commission, Metropolitan Community Church, and Queer Muslim Network Toronto. The call sheet even names a hijab consultant, Elaf Al Maktari. Sheikh's about page adds an MFA in Documentary Media from Toronto Metropolitan University, the Dean's Award of Excellence, and the TMU Gold Medal.,,
The catalog year is the festival year.
The 2025 premiere is not the date on the card. TMDB's 30 May 2026 stamp lines up with Inside Out on Sheikh's screening list. The same page logs Ottawa's International Film Festival, TIFF Next Wave, the Diaspora Film Festival in Incheon, and KASHISH Pride in Mumbai. TIFF's own Next Wave posts put the short in the 2026 Young Creators Showcase. Out On Film later dropped it into a Kin & Connection virtual-cinema shorts block. None of those listings call the film a Netflix original. It still sits in the U.S. Catalog beside longer romance titles, which is how a Jummah squeeze of under ten minutes ends up in a gossip queue built for features.,,,
If you came looking for Bernard Slade's 1978 play of almost the same name, this is a different appointment. This one is queer, Muslim, and shot with a workshop budget and a transit-agency partner. There is no salary leak and no public blowup. There is an award from Reel Asian, a year of Pride and youth-festival dates, and a logline that still fits on one breath.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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