Nisimazine Abu Dhabi Issue#2

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Abu Dhabi

Nisimazine Friday 16 October

‫ أكتوبر‬١٦ ،‫اجلمعة‬

.»‫صحيفة مهرجانية تصدر عن ورشة للنقاد الشبان من تنظيم الشبكة الأوروبية لسينما الشبان «نيسي مازا‬

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#2/

A festival gazette published in the framework of a workshop for young critics by NISI MASA, European network of young cinema

‫افتتاحية‬

‫ ساري وتنورة قصيرة‬،‫عباءة‬

EDITORIAL by Nadia Muhanna, aged 26 (Syria)

Abayas, Saris and Miniskirts

‫إن تصفحت الئحة أسماء فريق عمل مهرجان‬ ‫أبو ظبي السينمائي قد تفاجأ بأن نصف الفريق‬ ،‫ من المثير‬.)‫أجنبي (أو ربما أكثر من النصف؟‬ ‫ متابعة أعضاء الفريق المختلفين‬،‫في الواقع‬ ‫ ساريهم وتنانيرهم القصيرة وهم‬،‫بعباءاتهم‬ ‫ لكن إلى أي حد يمكن‬.‫يعملون جنبًا إلى جنب‬ ‫وصف مهرجان يعمل على إدارته هذا الخليط‬ ......‫الكبير من الجنسيات المتباينة باإلماراتي؟‬ .‫إلى حد بعيد‬

Scrolling down the page of the Abu Dhabi 2010 festival team on the festival’s website, you might find it absurd that almost half of the staff (or maybe more?) are foreigners. It is actually fascinating to see this unique group of people in abayas, saris and miniskirts working together. However, with such a huge mix of nationalities involved, what is left from the local identity of the festival?…..a lot!

‫ فقط من سكان‬20% ،‫في نهاية المطاف‬ ‫اإلمارات هم من العرب اإلماراتيين – أو على‬ ‫ منذ لحظة وصولي‬،‫األقل هذا ما يخبرني به‬ ‫ كل شخص يعرف بأنني قادمة‬،‫إلى أبو ظبي‬ ‫ يعكس‬،‫ كمثل الفريق‬.‫من خارج اإلمارات‬ ‫برنامج المهرجان هذا الموزاييك من الجنسيات‬ .‫المختلفة التي تشكل معًا المجتمع اإلماراتي‬ ‫يحاول المهرجان من خالل «تشكيلته» الواسعة‬ ‫ التي تتضمن أفالمًا عربية وغربية‬،‫من األفالم‬ ‫ إرضاء كافة أذواق‬،‫وآسيوية وهندية وباكستانية‬ ‫ كذلك تختلف هذه األفالم‬.‫جمهوره المتنوع هذا‬ ‫ما بين التسجيلي والروائي والتجريبي والصامت‬ .)‫والمتحرك (أنيميشن‬

After all, only 20% of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) population is made up of locals - or at least that is what I keep hearing since I arrived at the Abu Dhabi airport. Just like its team, the festival’s film program greatly reflects the mosaic of nationalities that form the UAE. With a broad mix of Arab, western, Asian Indian and Pakistani films, the festival is striving to appeal to each of its broad audience’s taste. This also includes a big variety of genres; from documentaries to fiction, animation, experimental and silent films.

‫تتضمن هذه «التشكيلة» أفالمًا من بلدان قلما‬ ‫ منها عمان‬.‫تصادفها في المهرجانات السينمائية‬ ‫ يعرض مهرجان أبو ظبي السينمائي‬.ً‫مثال‬ ‫خمسة أفالم عمانية قصيرة وغيرها من األفالم‬ ‫ لكن لماذا‬.‫الخليجية ضمن مسابقة اإلمارات‬ ‫تدعى إذًا بمسابقة اإلمارات؟ ال أملك أدنى فكرة‬ .‫عن السبب‬ ‫إذًا ها هنا مهرجان متعدد الثقافات بجدارة‬ ‫ أمعن‬.‫ويعرض أفالمًا متنوعة ومختارة بدقة‬ ‫النظر في برنامجه فما من شك بأنك ستجد‬ .‫ضمنه فيلمًا يعجبك‬

‫فيلم اليوم‬

Within this mix you can watch films from countries you don’t usually come across at festivals. Take Oman for example; 5 Omani shorts are screened among many other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) films in the Emirates competition. Why it is still called Emirates competition? I have no idea! So here is a genuinely intercultural festival with a colourful collection of carefully selected films. Study its program thoroughly. There is no doubt that you’ll find among its films something to your liking.

Besides our daily at the festival in print, you can also find all our coverage online at www.nisimazine.eu Nisimazine is created by a team of young journalists. This edition they are from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Ireland, Portugal, United Kingdom and France

PICTURE OF THE DAY /

SILENT SOULS Aleksei Fedorchenko, Russia, 2010 Narrative Competition

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n ethnographic drama, the film is an exploration of the culture and traditions of the merja people - a finno-ugric ethnic minority once living in the North-West of Russia, but nowadays almost completely died out. Nevertheless, the filmmakers avoid making any claims about the films historical credibility, as director Aleksei Fedorchenko makes a somewhat ambiguous statement that in art fiction can be more convincing than reality. As Miron asks his friend Aist to help him to perform the rituals of the final validation to his beloved wife, the director leaves it to the main character to explain the motifs that lie behind creation of the Silent Souls. In the opening sequence Aist says that he wants to understand who we are and why we are like this and not like the others. With the plot that comfortably fits into one middle-length sentence, for Silent Souls it is perhaps less important what the story is about than how it is told. With the talent of Russian cameraman Michael Krichman, who worked with Zvjagincev on his multi-award winning motion picture The Return, the film captivates through the artistic quality of the camera work. Known for his beautifully composed wide still shots Krichman establishes the space for actors to

REVIEW /

inhabit, which, combined with a very restrained approach to montage, challenges our perception of cinematic time. Furthermore, a highly intuitive use of hand-held camera intensified by a first-person narration creates a feeling of presence which allows for an intimate connection with the story.

Based on a book by Denis Osokin, the film translates the story into a visual language, creating what can be called a cinematic poem. Despite the plot being almost entirely based around funeral rituals, this is not a story of death but of life. And in embracing this lies the key to understanding the culture of the merja. As Fedorchenko explains, the most challenging task for the actors was to deliver the notion that death equals love. As Miron retells his friend piquant details from his intimate life, Aist explains that while this would not be acceptable if his wife was alive, such conversations as a way of mourning “make your face brighter, turning your grief into tenderness”.

The information on what merja traditions were like is often controversial, but one is known for sure: they did not have gods, just love for each other.

by Tina Remiz aged 21 (Latvia/UK) 16/10 Cinestar 5 09:00 PM 17/10 Cinestar 8 05:00 PM

‫تعقيب‬ Nostalgia for the light

‫صورة اليوم‬

Patricio Guzmán, Chile/Germany/France, 2010 Documentary Competition

Photo by TINA REMIZ

We cannot forget our dead”, says a voice in Nostalgia for the light (Nostalgia de la Luz), meaning that it is our duty to remember them. How can one forget a son murdered by a dictatorial power? Fortunately, or regretfully, the past is hard to kill, and even the origins of the universe are still talking to us. From strata of earth to relics of a civilization, history lives on. Most of all, crimes of the past, despite all the imagination their perpetrators use to hide them, remain as painful and haunting wounds. We are all digging up a past, somewhere, and Nostalgia is a film softly woven by this metaphor. Here astronomers observe the sky, searching for answers light-years away above our heads. There women are searching for the bones of their husbands, sons and brothers wiped out by Pinochet’s

16/10 Abu Dhabi Theater 09:30 PM 17/10 Cinestar 2 07:15 PM Lebleba (stagename of Ninochka Manoug Kupelian, famous Egyptian actress) on the Opening night red carpet

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)‫ عامًا (سوريا‬٢٦ ،‫بقلم ناديا مهنا‬

FILM OF THE DAY /

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political repression thirty years ago. Both are in the same Atacama desert in Chile, an empty land that strangely reflects the far reaches of the sky. Massive shots of galaxies create a leitmotiv in the film, as if to remind us of what we are made (the calcium in our bones is the same component as that of the stars) and where we come from.

The film begins with the clicking mechanism of a telescope opening, and the deep noise it generates powerfully evokes the gigantic order of the universe. Guzmán shoots it smoothly, with intimacy. Light permeates the film through fades of a dusty glow. It’s all there: shadows and light, what disappears and what stays. This is a struggle for life. It’s everyone’s responsibility to ban the punishment of oblivion from our societies.

by Romain Pichon-Sintes aged 24 (France)


INTERVIEW /

‫مقابلة‬

REVIEW /

Bill Cunningham New York

Robert Krieg

Richard Press, USA, 2010 - New Horizons

Photo by TINA REMIZ

Robert Krieg with colleague and wife Monika Nolte

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director of Children of the Stones - Children of the Walls (Kinder der Steine – Kinder der Mauer) (Germany) – Documentary Competition

Children of the Stones - Children of the Wall, is a sequel (of sorts) to Intifada; what motivated you to revisit the material? During the shooting of Intifada in 1989 our still photographer made a picture of six little boys in Bethleham; we never saw them again. Three years ago he asked me to find out what happened to them. Did you find it difficult to locate the boys in the photograph? Originally we wanted to start the film without knowing anything, and to shoot our research as part of the film itself. But our co-producer did not accept the idea; nobody believed we would find them. Then, a friend of ours who lives in the area showed the photo to some people downtown. One hour later he drank a cup of tea with one of our protagonists. Whenever you have one you will also find the rest. They stick together as they did before; like a sort of street gang. They had never seen the photo, and did not remember the situation at all. But they recognized the place. It is near the house of one of them. He and his family still live there. They do not have many pictures of their childhood. The photo touched them all. They loved the idea to recreate it, and had a lot of fun. What does their story tell us about recent history in the Occupied Territories? They were the generation that be-

lieved in the peace process. Today, they are completely disappointed. Everybody is sitting at home waiting for Godot. They deeply mistrust any policy. They do not see a future for their country. Some of them have an eye on leaving if there is a chance to do it. Life has become incredible complicated. But what impressed me most was the liveliness, the energy, the straightforwardness and the sense of humour of these young men, who are seen by a major part of the Western public as victims or as shady types committing suicide attacks. Their efforts to live a normal life under unbearable circumstances poses the question: how long we can go on disappointing the human yearning for simply being able to live, learn and work as others do? You worked as an academic before you became a filmmaker. What motivated you to pick up a camera? I did some research about migration and social deprivation. My main tool was the direct interview. I learned that some of my interviewees were not only interesting for academic research, but also for a greater audience. So I decided to find a producer who was willing to realize my subjects. I feel influenced by filmmakers like Frederic Wiseman and Joris Ivens. Now, I work with my wife, Monika Nolte. We develop together the idea

of our films and work on the research. We write the script and start fund raising together. Then, I concentrate on directing, while Monika works as producer.

Documentary has been your genre of choice. Have you ever considered making narrative films? The reason why I prefer to make documentary films is simple: I do not want to tell my own stories but the stories of others, especially of people who never have the chance to be published. I feel more like a craftsman than an artist.

To be honest and straight in New York is like Don Quixote fighting windmills”, declares the subject of director Richard Press’s Bill Cunningham New York. Part fashion photographer, part social historian, Cunningham has been the unofficial chronicler of his native city’s sartorial styles for half a century. And has made an admirable effort to disprove his aforementioned assertion by consistently eschewing financial reward in favour of creative integrity. Press tries to reveal the private man, (now in his early 80s), behind the public figure; what his camera finds isn’t always pretty. Living in a cramped, filing cabinet lined apartment, subsisting on cheap restaurant sandwiches, I’d call Cunningham’s lifestyle

If you could start over, would you choose the same career(s)? In my second life, I will become a detective and solve crimes. Deviating behaviour fascinates me a lot.

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‫برجاء زيارة موقعنا اإللكتروني‬

* www.nisimazine.eu *

‫لالطالع على مدونة الفيديو وغيرها من املواد املتعلقة باملهرجان‬

oppressively ascetic were it not for the fact that he seems to be enjoying himself so much. Sure, his hearing’s not what it used to be, and he has to take pills for his heart, but he’s still working 7 days a week, traversing Manhattan on his 29th bicycle, (the others were stolen), compulsively clad in an anonymous blue work coat. What emerges is a tribute to craft in an era of cultural desiccation. We watch Cunningham pottering away in his cubbyhole in an otherwise deserted floor of The New York Times Building; we hear of how his landlord plans to evict him and rent his home to telemarketers. All the while he remains wedded to his belief that “he who seeks beauty, will find it”.

16/10 Abu Dhabi Theatre 07:00 PM 18/10 Cinestar 8 09:15 PM

Traditionally, your work has been displayed on German public radio and television. What is your opinion of the new digital methods of distribution which promise an instant global audience? This is the great challenge of the future. I have no doubt that the web will offer new ways to distribute; people can download your film. You are in direct communication with your viewers and do not depend any more from an opinion of your commissioning editor. That makes our partnership with public television difficult. But it is not only a question of distribution.The web can also be a tool to generate money for productions.

by Micheal O’Regan aged 29 (Ireland)

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‫تعقيب‬

REVIEW /

by Michael O’Regan aged 29 (Ireland)

‫تعقيب‬ The Mummy

Shadi Abdel-Salam, Egypt, 1969 Restored Classics

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he Mummy/ the Night of the counting years is a must- see movie! Yes, it truly is. But this argument might be not powerful enough to exhort you to rush to the video store if film festivals like Abu Dhabi Film Festival do not screen it. And yet the reasons are countless.

The Mummy takes you back in time. The action is set in 1881 in Thebes, the former capital of the Pharaonic kingdom, in the middle of a no-man’s land along the Nile where the Horabat mountain tribe sustains itself by selling ancient artifacts to Ancient Egypt’s connoisseurs on the black market from generation to generation. When the tribe members take winding paths to reach the tombs on a mysterious mountain, it feels like you are actually floating in time. The Mummy is not only a movie you can watch but you can also feel. The am-

biance is so solemn and obscure that you become one of the members of the secret tribe.Whether you like it or not, you unconsciously identify with them and feel part of the family. If you enjoy turnarounds, the plot will take you somewhere unexpected, in the gloomy depths of human nature. A dilemma tears a younger brother apart. He’s concerned about respecting Egypt’s heritage, but this moral stance can lead him to betrayal. Should he help the Egyptian authority reclaim its heritage only to allow for the British empire to get its hands on it? Or should he perpetuate his families’ traditions? Shadi Abdel-Salam’s masterpiece is an essential film among the Egyptian classics. May this color film transport you to its dark complexity that swirls around the question of identity.

16/10 Abu Dhabi Theater 04:00 PM 17/10 Abu Dhabi Theater 10:00 PM

by Samira Mesbahi aged 24 (France)


From The International to Closer and King Arthur, Clive Owen has a very great palette of acting. He made his first steps on stage in school plays and found his way very soon. At the start in theatre productions in his home country but cinema quickly caught him. As a British actor, he remembers his first years in Hollywood, when he was only offered to play the bad guy. He remarks that nowadays there is more place for nonAmerican actors. And we can only agree with that when we see Madds Mikkelsen or Mathieu Amalric and of course Marion Cotillard in more and more prestigious Hollywood productions. About his work, he reveals that he sees an actor as a tool committed to the will of the

director. “Actors who impose their vision too much should become directors!” To him, acting means concentration as discipline. You have to be ready for anything, most of all big emotional sequences. As he has to keep his energy for acting, Owen stays very quiet on set between takes. He learned this from his early experiences on set where he was discovering everything and chatting with everyone he met. What he dreads the most is the first week of a production, when everyone meets each other and learns how to work together. If it was possible, he would prefer to retake the first week of shooting when everyone feels at ease. Well, many in the audience would have loved to remake this conversation too, because we were feeling more and more comfortable in his company…

by Elisabeth Renault-Geslin aged 23 (France)

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n explosion of flashes at each of his movements. In a very natural and comfortable manner, he enters the theatre and after half an hour of interview it’s the turn of the audience.

FOCUS /

‫بقعة ضوء‬

(Hand-drawn) animation

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his summer’s big box office hits were the confirmation of a continuous trend in cinema, animation is taking over. Toy Story 3 is already the highest earning film of the year, gaining profits of over 1 billion dollars worldwide. The last chapter of the Shrek series is not far behind, drawing similar numbers to Christopher Nolan`s much praised Inception or the teen sensation Eclipse.

Equally relevant has been the part the middle-east is assuming in this story. From all the animations released in the last few years Waltz and Bashir from Israeli director Ari Folman, is perhaps the most astonishing

really stands out in Kingdom of women is Merhej contributions, a series of short animations that illustrate these same events, taking the emotional impact yet another step forward. As animation is also on the rise

of them all. Set during the early 1980`s Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Folman`s daring voyage into his very own forgotten war memories showed us exactly how much animation has got to offer, creating a film truly without parallel.

in other countries in the region, such as Iran, and most important in UAE, with the TV success of Haider Mohammad Haider`s Sha’biyat Al Cartoon, new paths are bound to be open for the emergence of local talent. The question is, will they be able to catch up with the rest of the world?

Kingdom of Women: Ein El-Hilweh

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Encounter with Clive Owen

Disney and Pixars domination over the genre is undisputable. Their creative use of new technologies has gathered massive audiences who lead us to conclude this is in no way a temporary state of affairs.

‫تعقيب‬

Submission (Underkastelsen) Stefan Jarl, Sweden, 2010 What in the world are we doing to our world?

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etardant speckled cat hair, pesticide ridden vegetables and biologically abnormal mice form part of the sobering spectacle in Submission (Underkastelen), by Swedish veteran Stefan Jarl. The relationship between man and nature is a preoccupation of his, and this offering is a consideration of the ‘chemical society’ that has been developing since World War II. The film opens with the director receiving results of a battery of tests, which report that his system contains scores of toxic chemicals, absorbed from the daily environment; perturbed, he speaks with experts to ascertain the implications. He learns that, whilst nothing has been conclusively proven, there is an observable association 15/10 Cinestar 4 07:00 PM 16/10 Cinestar 4 04:15 PM

between exposure to such substances and the incidence of various illnesses. In a worst case scenario lies the spectre of a ‘cocktail effect’, in which these agents interact to potentially catastrophic consequence. Jarl’s argument, that society has allowed the usefulness of chemicals override concerns about long term health implications, is a compelling one. However, the piece is overly didactic, redolent of a public information film. The decision to have actor Stellan Skarsgård narrate the director’s thoughts in the first person was undesirably distancing; the effort to provide visual variation by contrasting urban life with ‘free-flowing’ nature pompous and trite.

by Michael O’Regan aged 29 (Ireland)

To be fair this phenomenon is not necessarily new, but you would find it hard to point out another moment in film history where so many serious and influential animations have been release simultaneously, creating enough space of maneuver to launch the absurd cry of the birth of an international movement. Chico and Rita, a love story set on the background of the Latin jazz explosion in the pre-revolutionary Cuba of the 1950`s, attention to detail is nothing short of brilliant. It adds a poetic and emotionally intense reality to a script that, even though it borders on the obvious, is charged with stimulating political and social commentary. A series of similar productions have been released in the past few years, and more interestingly, from very different corners of the world. In France Sylvain Chomet is being the target of great praise following the recent release of The Illusionist and his now legendary Bellevue RendezVous. The Japanese, in some way, actually set the standard a while ago, in particular through the work of Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Ponyo).

Chico and Rita

REVIE W /

One good example is Fernando Trueba`s new film Chico and Rita, one of this year’s highlights of the narrative competition. The Oscar winning Spanish director launched himself on new terrains alongside two renowned Spanish artists, Javier Mariscal and Tono Errando, to produce a film that, in my view, encapsulates this new dimension of animation, a new film language where hand-drawn characters and places are brutally real, politically critical and altogether thought provoking.

Waltz with Bashir

Photo by TINA REMIZ

While the success of American animations is defining new standards, something interesting is happening in other parts of the world. Some animators are going back to their origins by replacing the same new technologies with a more classical approach, and by doing so achieving completely different results.

In this edition of the Abu Dhabi film Festival audiences will have the opportunity to take a look at yet another interesting version of the new animation language. In Kingdom of women: Ein ElHilweh, Palestinian born director Dhana Abourahme teamed up with Lebanese artist Lena Merhej to present us with a unique experiment. The documentary attempts to compile testimonies by Palestinian women who have survived a series of Israeli invasions and one civil war in the largest refugee camp in Lebanon, Ein El-Hilweh. Most of the stories told by the interviewed women are enough to transport the audience into frightening and despairing scenarios. But what

by Fernando Vasquez aged 30 (Portugal)

CHICO & RITA 18/10 Cinestar 1 09:00 PM 19/10 Cinestar 2 09:15 PM THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN 16/10 Cinestar 1 09:30 PM 17/10 Cinestar 1 03:45 PM


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SPOTLIGHT

by Nesreen El Zayat, aged 32 (Egypt)

Maha Maamoun

‫ مصر‬،‫ سنة‬٣٢ ،‫بقلم" نسرين الزيات‬

Tourism in Egypt; the pyramids as a witness

‫مها مأمون‬

!!..‫ شباك نطل به علي المدينة‬،‫عندما تكون السياحة فى مصر‬ ‫أنها تدرك جيدا ً اهمية وإختالف فن الفيديو‬ »‫ فإن اخملرجة املصرية «مها مأمون‬،‫أرت‬ ‫إختارت ان يكون فيلمها «سياحة داخلية‬ ..‫ النافذة التى تطل منها علي مصر‬،»2

‫ل‬

‫حيث ترى أن إهتمامها لم يكن بالسياحة فى حد‬ ‫ على‬،‫ بل أرادت خلق صورة مكتملة ملصر‬،‫ذاتها‬ ‫ لذلك جعلت من االهرمات‬- ‫ القاهرة‬- ‫األخص‬ ‫ شاهدا ً علي حاالت التغير اجلغرافى‬،‫الثالثة‬ ‫ فقد‬،‫واإلجتماعى والسياسي وأيضا ً اإلقتصادى‬ ‫إختارت بعناية شديدة مشاهد كاملة من أكثر‬ ‫ فيلم مصرى – أبطالها ممن ميثلون جنوم‬20 ‫من‬ ..‫السينما املصرية‬ ‫ تقدم‬،‫ دقيقة‬62 ‫فى الفيلم الذى تصل مدته إلى‬ ،‫ رؤيتها اخلاصة عن مصر‬،‫لنا اخملرجة مها مأمون‬ ‫ فهى ترى أن‬،‫ليست من منظور متاجرة سياحية‬ ‫ ميثل عملية خلق للتمثيل‬،‫مشروع فيلمها هذا‬ ..‫ بشكل عام‬،‫البصرى فى مصر‬ ‫وميثل هذا الفيلم تكملة لسلسة الصور‬ ‫ وحملت إسم‬،2005 ‫الفوتوغرافية التى اجنزتها عام‬ ،‫ حيث تعاملت مع السياحة‬، »1 ‫«سياحة داخلية‬ ‫ ملا هو موجود فى الواقع املصرى – مثلما‬،ً‫كمرجعا‬ ‫ وهو ما كان بالنسبة لها إكتشاف‬، -‫ذكرت من قبل‬ ‫ والذى تعتبر ان مثل‬،‫نفسي وشخصى لواقع املدينة‬ ً ‫هذه الصور الفوتوغرافية تكاد تكون اكثر تعقيدا‬ .‫من صور مصر السياحية اإلعالنية‬

‫«مها مأمون» املولودة فى والية كاليفورنيا عام‬ ‫ والتى تعيش منذ سنوات طويلة فى‬،1972 ‫ تعتبر واحدة من كثيرين ممن يحبون‬،‫مدينة القاهرة‬ ‫ فهى تعمل األن مصورة‬،‫التصوير الفوتوغرافى‬ ..‫ وكذلك فى مجال الفيديو أرت‬،‫فوتوغرافية‬

B

ecause she is well aware of the importance and distinction of video art, Egyptian director Maha Maamoun chose to make her movie Domestic Tourism II a window that overlooks Egypt.

Maha Maamoun was born in California in 1972, but she has been living in Cairo for a long time. There she works as a photographer and video artist.

‫شاهدًا علي حاالت التغير الجغرافى‬ ‫واإلجتماعى والسياسي وأيضًا اإلقتصادى‬

As her film Domestic Tourism II implies, Maamoun got interested in the pyramids because of their peculiar appearance amid the urban structure of Cairo. She started searching for other photos of pyramids in many of the Egyptian classics among other types of films hoping that this might help her find out whether there was harmony between the existence of the pyramids and the changes that are taking place around it. Instead of taking a commercial touristic approach, Maamoun shows us in this Her long experience in photogra...the pyramids as a witness to the geogra- phy made Maamoun a meditative 62 minutes long film the Egypt phical, social, political and economical change person who is concerned about as she sees it. which Cairo is going through.. details. This is what helped her She believes to present different examples of that her film project is about creating a visual representation touristic photos of Egypt. These photos were her tool to disof Egypt in general. cover the deep social, political and psychological experiences that the city went through. This film is complementing her photo collection “Domestic Tourism I” that she finished in 2005. She used printed press Maamoun is one of the founding members of the Centre as a source to find out more about the Egyptian reality. She for Contemporary Image - which in turn contributed to the believes that these photographs are more complex than the production of her film Domestic Tourism II. She exhibited her country’s touristic ads. works in many galleries and museums such as Tate Modern, and the Venice Biennale of Architecture. It`s clear that the film isn’t about tourism. Rather, it’s an attempt to draw a comprehensive picture of her country or, more particularly, of Cairo. That’s why she used the pyramids as a witness to the geographical, social, political and economical change which the city is going through. She carefully picked scenes from more than 20 Egyptian films featuring some of the most distinguished Egyptian celebrities.

Nisimazine ABU DHABI 16. 10. 2010 / # 2 A gazette published by the association N I S I M A S A with the support of the Abu Dhabi Film festival

ً ‫وترى مها ان إهتمامها باألهرام والذى بات جليا‬ ‫» عندما شعرت‬2 ‫فى فيلمها «سياحة داخلية‬ ..‫بغرابتهم وسط السياق احلضرى ملدينة القاهرة‬ ،‫وهذا ما جعلها تبحث عن صور اخرى لألهرامات‬ ،‫داخل الكثير من أفالم السينما املصرية‬ ‫ رمبا قد يعطيها الفرصة‬،‫ وغيرها‬،‫الكالسيكية‬ ‫ملعرفة مدى تناسق ووجود األهرام مع مايحدث األن‬ ..‫من تغييرات‬

‫ فى مجال التصوير‬،‫عملها لسنوات طويلة‬ ،‫ أكسبها حالة من التامل والتدقيق‬،‫الفوتوغرافى‬ ‫وقد ساعد اخملرجة «مها مأمون» علي تقدمي‬ ‫ والتى‬،‫مناذج عديدة من الصور السياحية فى مصر‬ ‫كانت مبثابة االداة التى جعلتها تكتشف بها‬ ‫اعمق التجارب واخلبرات اإلجتماعية والسياسية‬ ..‫والنفسية ملدينة القاهرة‬ ‫ تعتبر واحدة من األعضاء‬،»‫اخملرجة «مها مأمون‬ ‫املؤسسني ملركز الصورة املعاصرة – والذى بدوره‬ ‫ وقد‬، - »‫ساهم إنتاج فيلمها «سياحة داخلية‬ ‫سبق وأن شاركت بأعمالها فى العديد من املعارض‬ ، « Tate Modern « ‫واملتاحف أهمها متحف‬ .‫وبينالي البندقية للهندسة املعمارية‬

‫ فريق التحرير‬/ EDITORIAL STAFF

‫ مدير التحرير‬/ Director of Publication: Matthieu Darras ‫ احملرر املسؤول‬/ Editor in Chief: Jude Lister ‫ ترجمة‬/ Translator: Nadia Muhanna ‫ التصميم وتنضيد الصفحات‬/ Design and Layout: Maartje Alders ‫ املساهمون‬/ Contributors: Nesreen El Zayat, Samira Mesbahi, Nadia Muhanna, Michael O’Regan, Tina Remiz, Elisabeth Renault-Geslin, Fernando Vasquez.

NISI MASA (European Office) 99 Rue du Faubourg Saint Denis 75010, Paris, France. Tel + 33 (0)1 53 34 62 78 europe@nisimasa.com / www.nisimasa.com

DOMESTIC TOURISM II 16/10 Tent 06:00 PM


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