Egyptian filmmaker Yousry Nasrallah (Photo: Al-Ahram)
Egyptian director Yousry Nasrallah said that he came up with the idea for his new film, Al Maa Wal Khodra Wal Wagh Al Hassan, 21 years ago, precisely in 1995, as he was working on his documentary film Sobyan Wa Banat.
The film, Nasrallah says, narrates the story of Egyptian actor Bassem Samra’s family, whose members work as wedding caterers.
Nasrallah, who saw that the countless particulars of this family's story could be employed in a film project, decided to collaborate with Samra and turn this real-life story into a film.
As to why the film project did not see the light since the idea's inception in the 90s, Nasrallah told Al-Ahram that “Bassem and I held some work sessions since then, but were interrupted as we developed new ideas for other films like Al-Madina, Genenet Al-Asmak, and most recently Baad El-Mawkea."
Nasrallah explained that the film focuses on the life of cooks from the countryside who work in wedding receptions. To do that, it tells the stories of three cooks, whose roles are played by Layla Elwi, Menna Shalabi and Bassem Samra.
The film seeks to reveal how this group’s members deal with one other, the sufferings they encounter at times, and the situations they experience during their presence in wedding receptions across different social classes.
The film was co-written by Ahmad Abdalla and Nasrallah, and produced by Ahmed El-Sobky.
The cast also comprises actors Ahmed Daoud and Mohamed El-Sharnouby.
Nasrallah’s most recent film was the award-winning Baad El-Mawkea (After the Battle, 2012), which also starred Menna Shalabi and Bassem Samra, and discussed the aftermath of the Battle of the Camel which took place in Cairo’s Tahrir Square during the Egyptian Revolution.
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