Family Stories, Home Movies at Cimatheque on Thursday, August 16, 2012

The Cimatheque in Downtown presents "Family Stories, Home Movies (A Selection)" on Thursday, August 16, 2012, starting 9:00 PM.

You, Waguih/ Toi, Waguih

Namir Abdel-Messieh, France, 2005, 29 min, B&W and Color, Arabic & French with English Subtitles

Reticent and introspective, the eponymous Waguih is a reformed Communist and a onetime political prisoner in the early years of the Egyptian Republic—his life unfolds in fractured conversations with his son (screenwriter Abdel-Messeeh). You, Waguih is story of diaspora: a rupture in the continuity of ancestral memory, a first-generation cultural estrangement between traditional and assimilated culture.



Balaghany Ayyoha Al Malek Al Sa’eed/ it was related to me

Mohammad Shawky Hassan, Egypt, 2011, 18 min, Color, Arabic with English Subtitles

A meditation on the complex relationship of two brothers. Images from family albums and home videos are juxtaposed with sounds extracted from popular radio and television programs in the 1990’s, unfolding this relationship and the interplay of notions of brotherhood, patronage, masculinity, and sexuality.



Tabaq El Sardin/ A Plate of Sardines–or The First Time I Heard of Israel

Omar Amiralay, Syria/France, 1997, 17 min, Color, Arabic with English Subtitles

“The first time I heard of Israel, I was in Beirut, and the conversation was about a plate of sardines. I was six years old, Israel was two.” In this film, Amiralay visits the village of Quneytra (which was destroyed by Israel in the 1967 war and then taken back by Syria in 1973, but deliberately left as a ruin). Accompanying him is fellow Syrian filmmaker Mohammad Malas, who was born in Quneytra and whose film The Night evokes his parents’ memories of the then bustling, now lifeless village.



Ebtasem! Anta fi Janoub Loubnan/ Smile! You are in South Lebanon

Dalia Al-Kury, Jordan, 2008, 53 min, Color, Arabic with English Subtitles



While the politicians of the world are focused on saving Lebanon from a potential civil war and a reoccurring failed elections, the filmmaker goes on a family visit to south Lebanon and focuses the lens on her animated uncle Rami, who would much rather swim, little Mariam who is learning how to walk and Ali, the courageous farmer, who is giving his banana tree a Cesarean Section. The result is an intimate and vibrant family portrait, which represents the potency of the Lebanese dark humor—a talent that has helped them cope with wars still fresh in memory.



This program is presented by Mohammad Shawky Hassan, filmmaker and Director of Film Programs at ArteEast.

Cimatheque
Address: 19a Adly Street, 5th Floor, Apt. 29,  Downtown. Cairo.
Tel.: 01000277964 - 01008756477