Masry Asly Itinerant Film Festival 2014 Masry Asly Pure - - PDF document

• ••Masry Asly Itinerant Film Festival 2014•••

¡ Masry ¡Asly ¡“Pure ¡Egyptian” ¡is ¡the ¡name ¡and ¡the ¡theme ¡of ¡our ¡Itinerant ¡Film ¡ Festival ¡ (MAIFF). ¡ The ¡ idea ¡ is ¡ to ¡ present ¡ to ¡ the ¡ audience ¡ films ¡ about ¡ Egypt, ¡ made ¡by ¡Egyptians ¡or ¡produced ¡in ¡Egypt, ¡in ¡order ¡to ¡highlight ¡the ¡independent ¡ productions ¡and ¡give ¡the ¡talented ¡filmmakers ¡the ¡opportunity ¡to ¡screen ¡their ¡ work ¡in ¡different ¡locations ¡around ¡the ¡country. ¡Moreover, ¡the ¡festival ¡aims ¡at ¡ creating ¡cultural ¡opportunities ¡for ¡audiences ¡outside ¡the ¡main ¡Egyptian ¡cities, ¡ proposing ¡them ¡a ¡selection ¡of ¡independent ¡Egyptian ¡films ¡that ¡usually ¡are ¡not ¡ screened ¡in ¡cinemas. ¡ The ¡ second ¡ edition ¡ of ¡ the ¡ Masry ¡ Asly ¡ Film ¡ Festival ¡ is ¡ taking ¡ place ¡ in ¡ Cairo, ¡ Damanhour ¡ and ¡ Aswan ¡ and ¡ will ¡ grant ¡ the ¡ young ¡ talented ¡ winners ¡ of ¡ the ¡ competition ¡ section ¡ with ¡ a ¡ residency ¡ at ¡ the ¡ Binger ¡ FilmLab, ¡ an ¡ Amsterdam ¡ based, ¡ international ¡ talent ¡ and ¡ project ¡ development ¡ centre ¡ for ¡ feature ¡ and ¡ documentary ¡films. ¡ ¡ The ¡Festival ¡is ¡structured ¡in ¡two ¡sections: ¡ Masry ¡ Asly ¡ Competition: ¡ 24 ¡ Egyptian ¡ short ¡ features ¡ and ¡ documentaries ¡ are ¡ part ¡of ¡the ¡competition. ¡The ¡festival ¡will ¡assign ¡two ¡awards: ¡the ¡Jury ¡award ¡ and ¡the ¡Public ¡Award ¡(See ¡film ¡list ¡below). ¡ Eyes ¡on: ¡this ¡section ¡is ¡dedicated ¡to ¡6 ¡short ¡features ¡and ¡documentaries ¡that ¡ tell ¡stories ¡about ¡Egypt ¡(See ¡film ¡list ¡below). ¡ The ¡dates ¡and ¡locations ¡of ¡the ¡Festival ¡are: ¡ 15-­‑18 ¡March ¡ Cairo ¡ Artistic ¡Creativity ¡Center ¡ Cinema ¡Hall ¡of ¡the ¡Hanager ¡Arts ¡Center ¡ 25-­‑26 ¡March ¡ Aswan ¡ Culture ¡Palace ¡ 15-­‑17 ¡April ¡ Damanhour ¡ Opera ¡House ¡ ¡ The ¡ Festival ¡ is ¡ organized ¡ by ¡ RC ¡ -­‑ ¡ Ricerca ¡ e ¡ Cooperazione ¡ and ¡ SEMAT ¡ for ¡ Production ¡ and ¡ Distribution ¡ and ¡ co-­‑funded ¡ by ¡ the ¡ European ¡ Union. ¡ The ¡ Festival ¡ is ¡ organized ¡ in ¡ cooperation ¡ with ¡ the ¡ Artistic ¡ Creativity ¡ Center, ¡ the ¡ Cultural ¡Development ¡Fund, ¡Damanhour ¡Opera ¡House ¡and ¡the ¡Aswan ¡Cultural ¡

• Palace. ¡

¡ For ¡more ¡info: ¡ ¡ maiff2014@gmail.com ¡ ¡ maiff.net ¡ ¡ masryasly2014 ¡

• MASRY

ASLY ITINERANT FILM FESTIVAL 2014

• Masry Asly

COMPETITION

¡ 2 ¡

A Good Looking Woman Required for Employment Dina El-Hawary - 1’28 (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles – Doc In regular shops, whether they are clothing, shoe, or any other shops, employers often hang outside their windows the advertisement: "A good looking woman is required for employment." Most of the time, we do not give much attention to such advertisements. But if we take a deeper look, we would realise that they do not mention anything about

• qualifications. For the employer, being "good looking" is all that matters regardless of the

employee's qualification. For the potential employee (most, if not all, of whom come from low-income families) getting a job and a salary is all that matters. These potential employees, therefore, do whatever it takes to get any job.

• A Padlock and a Shackle

Mohamed Karara - 8’20 (2013) ARA - Doc The resemblance between the neglect of independent artists and the neglect of historical buildings such as Champollion palace.

¡ 3 ¡

After Greetings John Ikram - 14'41 (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles – Short Fiction Ibrahim, an Egyptian citizen, finds a special letter. Curious by it, he reads it. His curiosity turns into a connection with the letter and with whoever wrote it. Who wrote the letter? Who was it written to? And what does it say? And how did he find the letter? All these questions are answered in the film.

• An hour a day

Peter Samuel - 17' (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles - Short Fiction Two old men... Mr. Saber & Mr. Hassan are roommates at a hospital. Their beds lay adjacent to one another. Hassan's bed being the one next to the window, he sees what goes on

• utside the window & relays it to Mr. Saber. He tells him of the big garden and cheerful life

he sees through the window. One day Hassan dies and Saber discovers that through the window there are only the crowded streets, and that Hassan was blind.

¡ 4 ¡

Bahiya Mavie Maher - 11'30 (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles – Short Fiction 8-year-old Bahiya is killed in an attack on the Mohamed Ali mosque, and her death impacts the life of her teacher Mariam. Mariam’s life comes to a halt as she reconsiders the direction in which her life is headed. She faces external conflicts through her attempts to live free from people and taboos, and inner conflicts in her endeavour to make peace with her self.

• Bebo

Ahmad Kamal - 3'52 (2013) ARA – Short Fiction Using the art of Graffiti, Bebo expresses his feelings towards the Port Said massacre of 2012? In the light of his father's controlling nature, Bebo insists on expressing what is inside

• f him, and how it affected him. The film examines politics, but mainly speaks of the value
• f art in a young man's life.

¡ 5 ¡

Colored Black Hassan el-Plisy - 27'57 (2013) ARA – Short fiction The movie examines the struggle between the past, the present, and the world of dreams, and explores the ongoing attempts to control and determine one's fate. The struggle can come as a result of external oppression, outside the scope of the human soul or the result

• f fear of what is inside. There are many symbols and ideas represented in the film,

differently absorbed from person to person according to how he receives it. Through the narrative of someone's life, who experiences a night between reality and the world of dreams, the film takes us on a journal to examine these multiple ideas and symbols.

• Crop

Marouan Omara / Johan Domke - 49' (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles – Doc Crop is an absorbing account of the Egyptian revolution of 2011 – one that includes no images of the popular uprising itself. Filmed entirely within the offices of Al-Ahram, the country’s largest state-run newspaper, the film is a series of carefully composed tableaux that expose the institution’s functioning and the former regime’s strict control over

• information. To explain what we are seeing, a photojournalist, who missed the revolution

because he was in the hospital, provides voiceover narration. With their formal mastery and perceptive framing, Johanna Domke and Marouan Omara inspire us to think about the power of images.

¡ 6 ¡

Dream of experience Mamoon Azmy - 9' (2012) Short fiction To feel alive. To experience something different. Drowning in this experience, as one would drown in a whirlpool, twirling around ones own body, the matter around and in our own

• minds. This confusion, can bring sorrow and despair. At the same time, the trust in the

beauty of experiencing, and faith in what they bring us transcends the self into a state of

• peace. A state of patience; being at ease with knowledge that this whirlpool would bring

something we might be missing, even if we are not aware of it.

• Egyptian Tragedy Turns to a Kid's Game

Ahmed Hamed - 3'57 (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles - Doc Affected by the scenes he witnessed in his neighbourhood, a child recreates the breaking

• f the Nahda square sit in, using toy soldiers.

¡ 7 ¡

Hayat Islam Kamal - 16' (2012) ARA – Short fiction "He will return as he promised me. I will not believe what they say. I will only believe my heart." Hayat

• Night

Ahmed Roshdy - 13' (2013) Short fiction The film looks - in a symbolic way - at marriage traditions that make them seem more like business deals. It explores the suffering of a young man and the societal constraints, especially on women, who in turn submit to those constraints.

¡ 8 ¡

One Truth Aya el-Adl - 15' (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles – Short fiction This psychodrama follows the life of a young woman in a relationship with a married guy. After seeing him cheating on her, she begins hallucinating to the point where we lose sight

• f what is real and what isn’t. The drama continues until she ends up living her life in a

mental institution.

• Onny

Sally Abu Basha - 20' (2013) ARA/ ENG subtitles – Doc Onny is a young man living in el-Darb el-Ahmar area. He dreams of love and marriage.

¡ 9 ¡

Rest In Peace Dina Abd el-Salam - 15'53 (2014) ARA/ENG subtitles – Short fiction Sohair and Ebtisam are two sisters who spend the night together. They had just finished the burial and funeral of Ebtisam's husband. Reciting the Quran and prayers seemed like the logical thing to do in this night of mourning. However, the mood and ambience are suffocating and the only way to keep going is through chitchat.

• Six

Bahaa el-Gamal - 18'12 (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles – Short fiction A gramophone breaks the silence, they are getting dressed to meet their visitors, she is searching for the butterfly necklace, she founds a gun ... and then everything begins. §

¡ 10 ¡

Sudden Malfunction Ahmed el-Assal - 7' (2012) ARA/ENG subtitles – Short fiction A child loves cars; his room is filled with them. As he plays with his toy cars, one of them breaks down. He tries to fix it without letting anyone notice. We discover that things are not what they seem.

• The Cave

Ahmed el-Ghoneimy - 22'56 (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles – Short fiction ln a changing world, fitting in is the hardest thing to do. Ghoneimy's slice-of-life film follows angry young musician Adham through the contrasting landscapes of an ever- evolving Cairo. For Adham, working class with limited opportunities, the city is an arena where the strong survive and the weak fall by the wayside. When he reaches out to an old friend, he finds he has moved on - and up - and the foundation of their relationship is not what it once was. A sharp, poignant comment on the rapidly transforming social environment that is contemporary Egypt.

¡ 11 ¡

The day I stop painting Alaa Mosbah - 28' (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles – Doc Through the story of Khaled Omar, a young graffiti artist from the Ahly ultras group, who was killed in the Port Said stadium massacre, the film follows the Ultra's struggle for

• freedom. Starting before the 25 January revolution and taking us through a series of

historical shifts, the film examines the Ultra’s engagement and disengagement with politics.

• The Girl

Sondos Shabayek - 4' (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles – Short fiction A 5-minute glimpse into the journey of a young woman walking the streets of Cairo and the comments and harassment she suffers.

¡ 12 ¡

The House Game Mohamed El-Wassify - 10' (2012) ARA/ENG subtitles – Short fiction Can Youssef continue playing without Yasmin?

• The Winner

Amrosh - 12' (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles – Short fiction The day everyone has been waiting for. All eyes on the prize.

¡ 13 ¡

Virtual Nada Riyadh - 11' (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles – Short fiction Through the Facebook updates of a female lawyer who works on labourer’s cases, we experience an intimate story in the life of an activist.

• What's going on?

Karim Shaban - 15' (2012) ARA/ENG subtitles – Short fiction A young hardworking Egyptian man faces a test during the revolution and grapples with conflicting feelings of fear, curiosity, hope and bitterness.

• MASRY

ASLY ITINERANT FILM FESTIVAL 2014

• EYES ON

¡ 2 ¡

Egyptian Shady El-Hakim 10’14 (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles –Short fiction A view of some ancient Egyptian women status leads to modern research previewing nowadays women through different experimental situations in various locations that will be illustrated in a form of a documentary that takes place inside the dramatic plot flow of the film. Among with the characters’ conflicts and struggles it also captures the reaction of live spectators to the acts performed.

• Electro Chaabi

Hind Meddeb 76’59 (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles - Doc A few years before the 2011 revolution, a new style of dance music started emerging on the streets of Cairo’s poorer neighborhoods. On special occasions, the youth dance to Electro Chaabi, a new music that blends folksongs, electro beats and freestyle chanted in the style

• f rap replacing the old bands and belly dancers. More than just a musical phenomenon,

Electro Chaabi is a healthy outlet for the youth oppressed by the prohibitions imposed by Egyptian political religious and social system. The film was screened in several countries including San Francisco and Switzerland. It also took part in the London Film Festival.

¡ 3 ¡

Kids like You and Me Bill Cody 73’52 (2013) ENG - Doc Kids Like You and Me: A Middle East Tour Film documents this journey through one of the most exciting regions in the world including three groundbreaking stops in Egypt. (The last known American rock band to play Egypt being The Grateful Dead in 1978!) Get on the bus with The Black Lips and their good friends, Lebanese indie-rockers, Lazzy Lung. See the people of the Middle East the way they really are. Shopkeepers and restaurant owners. Skaters, graffiti artists and musicians. Revolutionaries and dreamers. Kids like you and me. You’ll never look at the Middle East the same way after seeing this film.

• The Story of “N”

Laila Sami (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles – Doc The director’s journey as she fails to complete shooting her first film due to the way society perceives women. The film is the director’s journey to find a format for telling N’s story that would be acceptable within the ever-increasing restrictions she faces in the process of

• filming. It is a reflection on the incredible strength that Egyptian women are developing to

cope with a very restricting and belittling male dominated society. The director’s journey as she discovers how unaware of their power women are, becomes a desire to inspire self- appreciation and respect in the hope that such awareness is a step towards getting rid of this oppression.

¡ 4 ¡

Virgin Male Mina Magdy 9’58 (2013) ARA/ENG subtitles – Short fiction The film is a Fantasia dark comedy that reverses the traditional social roles, giving women authority over men. How will the man cope in this new context?

• Good Morning Cairo

Sohalia Battu (2012) – 50’ ARA/ENG subtitles – Doc Good Morning Cairo is a 50 min documentary film directed by Souheila Battou in January

• 2011. On the wave of the Arab spring, which was spreading in Egypt, the director camera

steals moments of eternity from the Cairenes. Souheila began by filming the revolution in Tunisia, and then she moved to Egypt because of her special relationship with the country where she lived for years. Good Morning Cairo flows the mixed feelings that Egypt was experiencing in the Friday of Anger on January 28, 2011 on the eve of the departure of

• usted president Mubarak. As lost in limbo, Cairenes witnessed what they were living and

what was happening around them. Anonymous people: volunteer doctors, engineers, women, men, young, old, coming from the north and the south… they were all one! As shown by Souheila’s camera, “the people want a perfect life”, what is the actual situation with regard to this hope? History is moving, but let’s stop there for a moment, only the time to refresh our memories in order to better know where we are going.