Retention

God's Creation

19 19

When the Flood Hits you

Curfew

Revolution Cookies

#Tahrir 2/2

Window

Interior/Exterior

Ashraf Seberto

Director Sherif Arafa Kamla Abu Zikry Marwan Hamed Mohamed Ali Sherif Bendary Khaled Marei Mariam Abou Ouf Ahmad Abdallah Yousri Nasrallah Ahmed Alaa

Synopsis

The film revolves around a variety of characters of the Egyptian society who are patients at a mental institution from before the events of the Jan 25 revolution. We learn that some of them were forcefully admitted to the hospital by security police forces. As the events of the revolution begin, we start to reveal the reactions of the different characters towards the daily incidents and towards each other’s opinions. The position of the hospital administration also plays a key symbolic role.

How a girl who sells tea on the street joins the revolution, and how she finds in it a way out of her suppressed life. It changes the way she thinks and feels about things, even how she feels about the color of her hair.

A main revolution mastermind gets captured one day before the big day.

How two men form a poor, marginalised social class try and make financial profit during the revolution from pictures and flags.

During the curfew, Ali and his grandfather get lost on the streets of suez city on their way home.

A young naïve man who suffers from diabetes and was in a coma for 4 days, goes to his shop on Friday 28th not knowing what has been going on since the 25th.He locks himself up in his shop for the whole 18 days, scared from going outside and not knowing what is happening. He decides to document what he is going through on tape cassettes.

This film is set on February 2nd 2011. This day followed a very emotional speech by Mubarak that left the Egyptian people divided, almost equally, between pro Mubarak and anti Mubarak campaigns.What happened this day is that thugs were paid to attack demonstrators in Tahrir square on camels and horses with all sorts of weapons. This was in addition to snipers who were shooting indiscriminately at both parties. Till this day there is no proof who organized this battle, but what is for sure is that Mubarak him self and the minister of interior along the head of the shoura council with members of the ruling party were involved.This film tells two stories that run parallel about two people who come from very different backgrounds and how by being on the square this day their lives changed, maybe forever.

‘Window’ tells the story of a young man, who lives in his bedroom, the changes he goes through and his reactions to the revolution he did not take part in, while watching the girl who lives next door through his only window. He barely leaves his room, and we barely leave it as well. Going through many personal details, ‘Window’ reviews the main events in the Egyptian Revolution through Newspaper headlines & Facebook.The young man changes with time, and tries to become more courageous in present¬ing himself to his love interest, who doesn’t know of him.

The day following the infamous “Battle of the Camels” on Tahrir Square, Mona decides to join the demonstrators. Mustafa, her husband, tries to prevent her. Their marriage is about to break.

The film tells the story of a barber whose shop suddenly turns into a field hospital treating protesters.

Director Bio

Being the son of the famous Egyptian film director Saad Arafa, Sherif Arafa’s involve¬ment in the film industry started in his teenage years. After going to University to study Commerce, he dropped out after one year to follow his passion of studying directing at the National Institute for Cinema. His directorial debut came at the young age of 25 with the film, “The Dwarves are Coming”. Since then, Sherif has directed 18 feature films and 2 theatrical plays, in addition to other film and TV projects. During his career, Sherif Arafa has become recognized as one of the top film directors in Egypt, gathering many awards over the years both locally and in Europe, such as Silver Award at the Milan Film Festival in 1992 for “Terrorism and Kebab” and in 1995 for “Birds of Darkness” and Bronze at Valencia Film festival for the same film in 1995. These are in addition to the numerous awards locally from the Egyptian Film Associa-tion and the Catholic Egyptian Cinema Center. His latest films include “Halim” (2006) the biography of the famous Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez, the well acclaimed “El Gezira” (2007) and the box-office controversial hit “Cousins” (2009).

Born in Cairo 1974, where she graduated from the High institute of Cinema. She Directed 3 short films (Qatr El Sa’a Seta, Shay’ ma Hadath, Nazra Lel Samaa) and 4 long features (Sana Oula Nasb, Malek we Ketaba, ‘An El Eshq W’el Hawa and Wahed Sefr). Her work has been screened and awarded in several local and international film festivals.

Born in Cairo 1977 & graduated from film school in 1999. In 2001, he directed a 40 min film called LIILLY based on a short story by the famous writer Yousef Idrees. His first feature film was THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING, 2006, based on the international best seller under the same name. The film was screened in a lot of film festivals including BERLIN film festival in the panorama section and won a lot of awards including THE BEST NEW NARRATIVE FILM MAKER AWARD in the TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2006. IBRAHIM LABYAD, his second long feature - 2009, is considered to be one of the most shocking movies about the crime world in the Egyptian slums.

Born in Alexandria, 1970. He studied law and film directing in Cairo where he also works and lives. He directed 2 long feature films (Le’bet El Hob (Awarded in Alexan¬dria Film Festival) & El Awela Fel Gharam), and 2 TV Series (Magnoun Laila & Ahl Cairo (Best Arab Social Drama in the Jordan Awards)

Born in 1978, he lives and works in Cairo. Elbendary graduated from the Faculty of Applied Arts in 2001, where he has been teaching film directing since 2008. During 2008 and 2009 he directed six documentaries in Mauritania and in Egypt for Al Jazeera TV produced by Hot Spot Films in Dubai as well as many TV commercials.In 2006, his first short fiction film “Rise & Shine” was officially selected in more than 75 film festivals in 29 countries including Tribeca international film festival, San Francisco international film festival, Montpellier med. Film festival and won 15 awards. In 2008, his second short film, also his graduation project, “At Day's End” was officially selected in more than 50 film festivals including Tribeca international film festival & Montpellier med. Film festival and won 14 awards. He was also selected in the berlinale talent campus, 2007.

Khaled Marei is an Egyptian director & editor. He directed 4 long features (Taimour we Shafia’a - 1997, Asef Ala El Eza’ag – 2008,‘Asal Eswed – 2010 & Bolbol Hairan – 2010) and edited over 15. He has been awarded several awards as a director and as an editor.

Born in Cairo, Egypt. Graduated from the American University in Cairo with a degree in Political science & Philosophy. In 2004 she studied filmmaking in London Film School. In 2004, she directed her award-winning documentary Taxi. After working as an assistant director on feature films & commercials, in 2007 she started directing commercials for some of the most important brands in the Middle East. In 2009, Mariam directed her first TV series and she is currently working on the postproduction of her first feature film Bibo & Bsheer.

Born in Cairo, Egypt 1978. He studied Music and has been working as a film editor since 1999. In 2009, he wrote & directed his first long feature film Heliopolis, winner of the Best 1st screenplay award of Sawiris Foundation in Cairo 2008. Heliopolis was screened in several festivals including Toronto, Marrakech, Thessaloniki and Abu Dhabi International Film Festivals. In 2010, he wrote and directed his second long feature film Microphone , winner of the Golden Tulip in Istanbul International Film Festival 2011, Golden Tanit in Carthage Film Festival 2010, Best Arabic Film in Cairo International Film Festival2010 and Best Editing in Dubai International Film Festival 2010.

Born 1952 in Cairo, Yousry Nasrallah directed: Dakhly/ Khargy (2011) part of the collective film “18 Days”, Ehky ya Scheherazade (2009) "Scheherazade Tell Me a Story". He wrote and directed Genenet al Asmak (2008) "The Aquarium”, Bab el Shams (2004) "The Gate of Sun", El Medina (1999) “La Ville”, Sobyan we Banat (1995) “On Boys, Girls and the Veil”, Marcides (1993) "Mercedes", Sarikat Sayfeya (1988) "Summer Thefts". He was also assistant to Youssef Chahine in Cairo… As told by Youssef Chahine (1991) Iskanderija, kaman oue kaman (1990) “Alexandria again and forever” & Adieu Bonaparte (1985).

Born and living in Cairo, Egypt, Ahmed graduated from the High Cinema Institute in 1999. He has worked as s assistant director on many long features since 2007, and has been directing ads since 2005. He directed his first long feature (The Replace¬ment) in 2009.

Script Sherif Arafa, Sound Editing & Mixing Empire,Original Score Omar Khairat, Producer Amin El Masry, Director of Photography Ayman Abou El Makarem, Editing Hassan El Touny, Costume Design Inas Abdallah Cast in Order of Appearance: Hamza El Eily, Mahmoud Samir, Hesham Mansour, Ahmed Shouman, Mohamed Abou El Wafa, Mohamed Tharwat, Nader Fransees

Script Belal Fadl, Editing Mona Rabie, Sound Editing & Mixing Gomaa Abdel Latif, Original Score Mohamed Abozekry & Heejaz, Producer Ehab El Koury, Director of Photography Youssef Labib Cast in Order of Appearance: Nahed El Sebaei, Salwa Mohamed Ali, Mohamed Termes, Suzette Swanson, Ahmed Dawood

Script Abbas Abou El Hassan, Editing Ahmed Hafez, Art Director Bassel Hossam, Director of Photography Ahmed El Morsy, Sound Editing & Mixing Frequency Studios, Mohamed Hassib, Hosny Aly, Producer Fadi Fahim Cast in Order of Appearance: Bassem Samra, Amr Waked, Omar El Saeed, Eyad Nassar

Script Belal Fadl, Editing Dalia El Nasser, Producer Fadi Fahim, Line Producer Sabry El Sammak Director of Photography Ahmed Mostafa, Sound Editing & Mixing Gomaa Abdel Latif Cast in Order of Appearance: Maher Selim, Raouf Mostafa, Ahmed Habashy, Maher Essam

Script Sherif El Bendary Atef Nashed, Original Score Ibrahim Shamel , Sound Editing & Mixing Tamer El Demerdash, Director of Photography Victor Credi , Editing Mona Rabie , Producer Ehab El Koury Cast in Order of Appearance: Ahmed Fouad Selim, Ali Rozeiq, Ramadan Khater, Mohamed Hatem, Hani Taher, Morad Fekry, Karim Abu El Fath, Amro Hassan

Script Ahmed Helmy, Editing Khaled Marei, Costume Design Mai Galal, Producer Fadi Fahim, Director of Photography Ahmed Youssef, Sound Editing & Mixing Mohamed Fawzy , Art Director Basel Hossam Cast in Order of Appearance: Ahmed Helmy, Eid Abu El Hamd, Hani El Sabagh

Script Mariam Abou Ouf, Original Score Hany Adel, Sound Editing & Mixing Gomaa Abdel Latif, Set Decoration Sherif Mostafa, Director of Photography Islam Abdel Samie, Editing Salma Osman, Costume Design Nahed Nasrallah, Producer Salma Osman Cast in Order of Appearance: Mohamed Farrag, Hend Sabry, Asser Yasin, Mohamed Mamdouh

Script Ahmad Abdallah, Original Score Amir Khalaf , Sound Mixing Ahmed Gaber, Producer Mohamed Hefzy, Director of Photography Tarek Hefny, Editing Hisham Saqr, Art Director Nihal Farouk Cast in Order of Appearance: Ahmed El Fishawy, Yasmine Shash, Omar El Zoheiry, Hisham Hussein

Script Tamer Habib, Yousry Nasrallah, Editing Mona Rabie, Costume Design Nahed Nasrallah. Camera Victor Credi, Yousry Nasrallah, Sound Ibrahim El-Dessouki, Ahmed Gaber Cast in Order of Appearance: Mona Zakki, Yousra Asser, Yassin Am Abdo

Script Nasser Abd El Rahman, Original Score Wael Badrawy, Sound Editing & Mixing Frequency Studios, Mohamed, Hassib Hosny Aly, Art Director Basel Hossam, Director of Photography Ahmed El Morsy, Editing Ahmed Hafez, Costume Design Inas Abdallah, Producer Fadi Fahim Cast in Order of Appearance: Mohamed Farrag, Mohamed Ashraf, Emy Samir Ghanem, Mohamed Tolba