Alexandria Symphony of a City - Documentary

I thought it would be nice to share this documentary about Alexandria today, on the day of Egypt's constitutional referendum. It's an important day in Egypt's history and this short was produced in a time when Egypt was still under dictatorship. Little did I know that Egypt would be free two years later. Today's a day of celebration.

Alexandria Symphony of a City is a short documentary that I produced during a visit there in the winter of 2009. I wanted to capture a nostalgic romantic mood inspired by classic black and white Egyptian movies of the 1950s and 1960s with actors like Omar Sherief, Faten Hamama and Roushdy Abaza. These were elegant times (or at least I perceived them that way), when Egypt had a voice culturally, intellectually and politically. I feel these times are returning now. Freedom has made everything possible now.
    
                         

I always see Alexandria in black and white. I sometimes feel like it's frozen in time, especially when I drive along the Alexandrian Corniche and when I see some of the classic buildings like the Cecil Hotel, now called the Sofitel Cecil Alexandria, where my parents used to go.

Not sure how to structure the narrative arc, I ended up developing the concept around a day journey to Alexandria. Hence you see the film start with the arrival by train during daytime and departure at the train station in the evening.

The film was inspired by classics like the 1927 Berlin Symphony of a Metropolis. The idea of some of the train shots came from there. I love some of those classics.

I hope you like watching it. Please leave any comments/thoughts.

I'd vote NO

If I was in Egypt today, I'd vote NO. It's another emotional day, as Egyptians go out to vote in the constitutional referendum taking place today. I feel a bit teary-eyed at the thought that again, I'm missing out on a significant moment in Egypt's history and I don't know why Stevie Wonder's track: That's what Friends are For, is running in the back of my mind.

If I was there, I'd vote NO, because I believe Egypt needs a new constitution, not an amended one that was built on the wrong foundations.

I hope NO wins today, as I'd like to see a fair democratic political process being built, with the right amount of time required to get to an Egypt with a strong democratic fair and tolerant foundation. 

Guilty Pleasures: A romantic comedy documentary

Guilty Pleasures is a documentary that I enjoyed watching. Contrary to what I expected, it turned out to be what I call a romantic comedy documentary. I'm not sure if the term exists within documentary genres, but I've noticed the rise of more documentaries that capture love stories. Or maybe I'm just drawn to that genre and seeking them out.

Like Guilty Pleasures, a good romantic comedy documentary is heartwarming and it leaves you smiling at the end. I find these kind of documentaries a nice escapist break from reality.

And like the Mills & Boon romance novel, on which the documentary was based, it mirrored that escapist world. Director Julie Moggan said in a Q&A following the screening at this year's Birds Eye View festival, that she'd come across a news article that stated, every four seconds somewhere around the world, a Mills & Boon is sold. That inspired her to make this documentary and to seek out Mills & Boon readers around the world.

And like a classic Mills & Boon book, the  documentary featured characters that were going through personal struggles in their romantic lives. It featured a number of female Mills & Boon readers and their partners, but the woman that stood out most for me was Hiroko a Japanese housewife. I just found her likeable.

I could have sworn the whole thing was scripted. Hiroko read Mills & Boon and fantasised about being swept off by a prince charming during a ballroom dance.  She was looking for a kind of romance that she did not encounter in her marital life. But reading about it was not enough for her, and she decided to embark on a ballroom dance course to make that dream come true.

In the process she sort of fell in love with her handsome dance instructor. But as time continued, her ambitions grew and wanting to participate in a dance competition, a costly matter, her husband decided to join her. Together they embarked on dance lessons in preparation for the grand competition. In Hiroko's case, her dream for prince charming became a reality in her marriage and on top of that, they won the competition, a happy ending to her journey.

The thing that stood out most for me was the structure of Guilty Pleasures. It was cut in a way to mirror reality versus fantasy. Like the action of reading a romantic novel, specific scenes would enable that escapism to take place. Aided by a romantic score, I felt it most during Hiroko's dance scenes.

On the other hand, reality would return once the novel was put down. This was particularly strong in the case of Shirley, an English woman. Mills & Boon helped her escape into her own world. Shirley was in a loving relationship, but having to struggle with her partner's depression. It served as a strong reminder to real life in contrast to her Mills & Boon world.

The other striking character in Guilty Pleasures was Stephen, the North American cover model. His presence in the documentary served to present us with an iconic picture, symbolical of the typical hero. Structurally, the interludes with him, tanned and well-built, driving his racing boat, arriving like a knight in shining armour, dramatised this escapist world. The sun was always shining and the sky was blue in scenes featuring Stephen. It was a backdrop fit for a Mills & Boon cover, in contrast to some of the grey scenes that reflected the mundaneness of real life outside the novel.

Exit through the Gift Shop: The artist is the art

Banksy's documentary Exit through the Gift Shop a collaboration with Thierry Guetta, was a film I very much looked forward to. I was keen to see who the enigmatic man was. What surprised me most was the film was not about Banksy, but about Thierry Guetta. But as I later discovered, it revealed a lot about Banksy and the world we live in, through Thierry Guetta's journey.

Thiery aka Mister Brainwash (MBW) shot to fame as a street artist after taking on Banksy's challenge to drop his film project and to become a street artist instead. This is where the story began. Perhaps Thierry was Banksy's artwork which spun out of control and took on a life form of its own. I say this in a loving not cynical way. I liked Banksy and I liked the suggestion that he was the black reaper at work, determining the fate of a mortal. 

The film took an interesting turn when the camera was turned on Thierry. Till that point, I was a bit disappointed with the conventional narrative structure. A bit of observational footage intercut with interviews, narrated by a well known actor. And generally at that point I felt the pace was too quick, not allowing me to engage enough with the featured artists and their work. But to my surprise about 3/3 in, a turn took place and I was able to enjoy the documentary. I found out more about Banksy in that last third.

It seemed to me at first that Thierry's fate as a street artist was orchestrated by Banksy. There was an element of suspense built into the film as I waited for Thierry to fall to his artistic death decided by Banksy. But that moment didn't happen. For example when Thierry asked Banksy for a quote to help him promote his show, I expected Banksy to react less amenably. But nothing like that happened and thankfully there were no exhibits of clichéed artistic behaviour.

This said a lot about Banksy. Maybe this documentary was about Banksy in a roundabout way after all. As a side comment, I also found some of the narrative detail revealing. For example, I enjoyed getting a tiny glimpse into the personal world of Banksy through a close-up shot of his hand holding a bunch of £10 forged bills he'd printed, where I noticed the ring on his finger. Whether intentional or not, it was a little window into his personal life. 

I also found Banksy's views on Thierry's success interesting, which said more about the society that we live in than they did about Thierry: "I don’t know what it means Thierry's huge success and arrival in the art world. I mean maybe Thierry was a genius all along. Maybe he got a bit lucky. Maybe it means art is a bit of a joke." It also revealed Banksy's down-to-earth side, a fact I enjoyed discovering about him.

The current obsession with celebrity and instant fame as widely seen in popular culture, was best captured by Shepard Fairey, an established graffiti artist who underlined the irony of it all: "The whole phenomeon of Thierry's obsession with street art, becoming a street artist, a lot of suckers buying into his show and him selling a lot of expensive art very quickly...it’s  anthropologically sociologically...it’s a fascinating thing to observe and maybe there’s somethings to be learnt from it."

Perhaps Exit through the Gift Shop was more of an experiment of today's popular culture. It revealed that Thierry was essentially a marketing phenomenon. Only time will judge his quality as an artist, a point Thierry raised himself, but till then I feel it was a case where the artist was the art.

Shafiq you're the weakest link, good bye

I also did not like the way Alaa El Aswani lost his cool with Ahmed Shafiq, Egypt's then prime minister and now ex-prime minister on yesterday's OTV live Egypt political panel discussion, but I also liked what he said. His style was not professional, but I think we should separate the two: his message and how he delivered it. 

Also, we should put this whole discussion into context. This is the first time we see an open debate of this calibre on Egyptian television. The prime minister for the first time is being questioned / drilled... This debate was unprecedented. I was witnessing a special moment in Egypt's post-revolutionary democracy.

The PM was in my view in a difficult situation as he had to bear the brunt of 30 years of oppression. In other words, for the first time the lid was lifted and all that steam came out in one go. He was shot, as the messenger of 30 years of political oppression.

It was not a natural situation and I bet you Aswani would in future handle a debate differently. At least I would hope so. When has the ruling authority in Egypt been questioned in public?

The main outcome for me is the debate showed that Shafik is not committed to any positive change. This is more important to note from this debate than the fact that Aswani was unprofessional.

Aswani stood up for the rights of the revolution and he made good points. That is honourable enough for me. 

Anyway since writing this note, I found out that Shafiq has resigned, which is in itself testimony to further incredible changes that we're witnessing in Egypt's political scene at the moment.