On the side of the resisters

It’s men – not the veil – that are the women’s main concern in life. Or, if this weren’t a film from a predominantly Muslim country, their main cross to bear. The women are the guests on Hebba’s TV talk show, and they run the gamut of Egyptian society, from meek murderesses to mighty media stars. The men in their lives, whether ministers or minions, are uniformly trouble for the women. That’s Scheherazade Tell Me A Story (2009) in a nutshell.

But this film by Yousry Nasrallah is more than that. Like Omaret yakobean (Yacoubian Building) (2006), Scheherazade (the French title is, not inaccurately, Les Femmes du Caire) is a sprawling, over-long soap on the wide screen. The usual Egyptian cinematic traits – melodrama verging on the hysterical – are present. But the talents of screenwriter Wahid Hamid, who painted the string of portraits that made Omaret yakobeanso gripping, save this from being just another ‘Egyptian movie’.

When I showed up at the Tangier Cinémathèque, the ticket person first tried to steer me away to a free documentary showing that evening. “There aren’t any subtitles,” she said of Scheherazade, as if that were an impediment to my enjoyment of the film. I did give the documentary a try – a series of interviews with minor rockers using mobile phone cameras – but it really wasn’t for me. No subtitles? Well, I’d lived in Egypt a couple of years, and my rusty Arabic is still tinged with not a little masri… Still time to catch the beginning of Scheherazade – off I go. I wasn’t disappointed.

The film is full of attractive young Egyptians – there’s the yuppy leading couple, Hebba and her hubby, both on career tracks that appear to be onward and upward. But then the seed of fear – or is it jealousy? – makes hubby pressure his TV host wife to move away from political talking heads to the “safer” ground of a women’s talk show.

Well, if that’s what you want… Hebba gives it her best shot, and what ensues is a series of vignettes of women brought down by men, or rather women refusing to be debased by men. The ways are many: neighbourhood heartthrob woos, in rapid succession, three sisters in a poor working class neighbourhood. Three-timer ends up badly when the eldest sister realizes what he’s been doing.

On the other side of town, successful dentist is taken off her feet by a patient, who becomes a minister after they wed. But then Prince Charming becomes Count Dracula (or at least a Robber Baron) – inexplicably, in relatively short order. Turns out that he’s more interested in the dentist’s earnings than in earning her love.

The vignettes are maybe two too many – the film’s 134 minutes do make you want to check your watch – but there could have been many more. One, only hinted at but surely a daily ritual repeated across the world, shows a beauty in an expensive perfume boutique donning a veil to make the trek home on public transport to her shaabi neighbourhood.

Which brings us to the veil. As Mona El-Naggar, Egyptian journalist, remarked in the August 10 New York Times, young women and girls in her country now wear the veil at a rate of some 89%. Peer pressure – which might also be said to be man pressure (fathers, brothers, boyfriends and spouses all expect this outward manifestation of piety/chastity/obedience) – is a powerful force. Despite the “measure of respectability,” offered by the veil, El-Naggar states that it “no longer protects or prevents harassment on the street”.

But remember, as Yousry Nasrallah told us, it’s not only the fundamentalists – it’s the men, and their all-encompassing desire to dominate. Scheherazade comes down on the side of the resisters: they may be battered, but they keep their dignity.

This review first appeared on Avuncular American.

134 mins. In Arabic.

‘Good News’ for Belgian cinema

An important cultural agreement between Egyptian media and entertainment company Good News Group and Brussels International Independent Film Festival was signed recently – Picturenose reports.

Egyptian film producer and director Adel Adeeb (pictured) has put €3 million in the coffers for an intriguing collaboration between Belgian and Egyptian cinema, to finance 50 per cent of two feature films.

Under the auspices of the 36th edition of the Brussels International Independent Film Festival, which was held in Brussels’ Jacques Franck Cultural Centre from 3-8 November, and which focused on Egyptian cinema, the renowned producer/director of films such as Laylat El-Baby Doll (2008) (producer/director), Halim (2006) (supervising producer) and Hysteria (1996) (director) held a round table on the festival’s final day, to announce the signing of an important agreement between Adeeb’s Good News Group and the festival organizers to produce two full-length feature films, with €1.5 million to be provided for each.

One of the films will be made in Egypt, the other in Belgium, using the native film talent of both countries. As Adeeb explained: “This is hopefully the starting point for voluntary, proactive collaboration which will hopefully become permanent and will extend to other film festivals in Europe.

“The idea behind the agreement with the festival is to ensure that we find a director, screenplay writer, distributor and of course actors on both sides of the partnership. Our absolute priority is to ensure that the films in question will express the cinema of today, and help young directors who are looking for backing, seek out the stars of tomorrow and open up film distribution between the two countries. Thus, it will be a very encouraging initiative in the current audiovisual landscape, which appears at present to be lacking in finance and daring.”

Belgium is the first EU country to embark on such an initiative, which is set to be realized during 2010 – organizers hope that other member states such as France and Italy will quickly follow suit. 
 
The festival also paid tribute to internationally renowned Egyptian actress and singer Yosra, who received a Lifetime Achievement in Film Award for her work, which stretches back as far as 1980 and includes appearances in more than 90 films, including Marwan Hamed’s much-acclaimed Omaret yakobean (Yacoubian Building) (2006), which has been screened in 38 countries worldwide. Yosra, who is also a UNDP Ambassador, and has previously won more than 50 awards for her films, spoke of her “absolute delight” at receiving the award, and thanked “the beautiful city of Brussels” for the honour.

The Brussels International Independent Film Festival, or le Festival International du Film Indépendant de Bruxelles, has been held since 1974. It originally focused on Super 8mm films and is now an annual showcase for a wide range of independent cinema.

Festival Website.

Focus on Egypt

The 36th Brussels International Independent Film Festival will be taking place on 3-8 November.

The festival will feature more than 60 countries showing 100+ films, of which many are being shown for the first time in Europe and worldwide.

A major film event, the festival welcomes the talents of today and tomorrow, as Brussels becomes a meeting point for filmmakers from all around the world.

The Brussels International Independent Film Festival is a place where filmmakers can meet and exchange ideas, an oasis of free-minded individuals who come together to inspire the cinema of tomorrow. First held in 1974, the festival has slowly but surely come to include all new media forms, becoming a flagship venue for independent cinema. Despite its many changes over the years, the festival has remained faithful to its original purpose – to allow those outside of traditional distribution methods a way of expressing their talent.

This year, under the auspices of three competitions (international, national and a special competition for people with disabilities) movies from countries as diverse as Mexico, Lithuania, Morroco, Indonesia will be in the spotlight, plus there’s the added bonus of a special guest country – Egypt.

The ‘guest-star country’ concept aims to highlight aspects of cinema that are little known to the Belgian public, and also provides an opportunity to promote a culture via the works of young artists who are regnerating the life force of a cultural environment in their search for something new.

Among the many Egyptian luminaries attending the festival, iconic Egyptian star Yosra (pictured) will be there to receive the festival’s Lifetime Achievement in Film Award prize for 2009. Born in 1955 in Cairo, Yosra has made more than 90 films addressing life’s social, political and human aspects.

In addition, among many other delights, Good News’ movie Halim (2006), a biopic about the great Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez, directed by Sherif Arafa, will be screened.

So what are you waiting for? See you at the festival!

Click here for full programme details.

36th Brussels International
Independent Film Festival, 3-8 November 2009

Centre Culturel Jacques Franck
Chaussée de Waterloo, 94
1060 Brussels T. +32 (0)2 649 3340
info@centremultimedia.org

Banding together

Ah, understatement. Perhaps one of the most difficult comedy nuances to capture but, when it’s done right, there are riches in store. To be honest, I sensed a discovery upon first reading the tagline to The Band’s Visit (2007), by former TV director Eran Kolirin, who also wrote the screenplay. And I quote: ‘Once – not long ago – a small Egyptian police band arrived in Israel. Not many remember this…it wasn’t that important.’

Rarely is the tone and joy of a film captured in an ad blurb but, as the film’s quiet charm began to take hold, it quickly became apparent that this was an exception to the rule, in all kinds of ways.

Egyptian band The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra arrives in Israel for a cultural event, to find no delegation awaiting them at the airport. Led by the stuffy, stiff-upper lipped but charismatic and charming Lieutenant-Colonel Tawfiq Zacharya (Sasson Gabai), who has a particularly vexed relationship with young Lothario band member Haled (Saleh Bakri), they attempt to get to their destination town of Petah Tiqva under their own steam. Unfortunately, Haled is charged with the responsibility of sorting out the transport, and the band takes the wrong bus, arriving instead at the remote dust-bowl of Beit Hatikva.

Stranded until the following morning in full uniform and with instruments in tow, pity is taken on them by sexy, worldly restaurant owner Dina (Ronit Elkabetz), who offers (along with the help of one of her customers) to put them up for the night. Each of the band members has special, personal discoveries ahead – and it’s Tawfiq who accompanies M’Lady for a night out that neither will forget.

Winner of the European Film Awards for European Discovery of the Year (Eran Kolirin) and Best Actor (Sasson Gabai) in 2007 (among many other gongs), what makes the film work so well is its evocation of the simple frustrations and sadness but also joy and human warmth that make up life, anybody’s life.

While obvious (and very funny) character idiosyncracies are on display, Kolirin does not resort to caricature to get his point across – Gabai as Tawfiq, for example,is obviously a man with more going on than meets the eye, but the revelation as to his inner pain is handled with such tenderness and sweetness, without hackneyed excess, that hard will be the heart not moved. Dina (an excellent performance from Elkabetz) tries her very best to bring Tawfiq out of himself – and to a certain extent, she succeeds. But the show must go on…

Check out the picture used to illustrate this review – it won’t mean much to the uninitiated (that’s the Haled character on the right, by the way) but you can have it with authority that the scene in question is one of the funniest (and understated, appropriately enough) cinema moments that you’re likely to see, period.

A downside? Yes, it’s too short. Not because it isn’t perfectly formed, but because you’ll come to care so much for all the characters, and so quickly, that you won’t want to wave them goodbye.

87 mins. In English, Arabic, Hebrew.