Two films and three film projects make up Egyptian cinema’s contribution to the competitions and programmes of the 81st Venice International Film Festival (28 August-7 September). Seven films and five projects are the total numbers for the Arab world, covering Palestine, Jordan, Tunisia, Lebanon and Morocco as well as Egypt.

The films from Egypt are: Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo by Khaled Mansour, in the Orizzonti Extra competition; and Perfumed With Mint by Mohamed Hamdy, in the Venice Critics’ Week competition. The films from Tunisia are: Aïcha by Mehdi Barsaoui, in the Orizzonti competition; Sudan, Remember Us by Hind Meddeb, in the Giornate degli Autori section, out of competition. From Palestine there is Happy Holidays by Scandar Copti, in the Orizzonti competition; from Jordan, Shadows by Rand Beiruty, in the Orizzonti Short Films Competition; and from Lebanon, Maroun Returns to Beirut by Feyrouz Serhal, in the Venice Classics section.

Both Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo and Perfumed With Mint are the debut feature films of their respective directors. Khaled Mansour’s previous credits include the short fiction films Two Winter Nights (2014) and The Dervish (2015); his Berries Island (2018) and Two Strangers and a Night (2020) participated in and received awards at local and international film festivals. Mansour studied history at Cairo University’s Faculty of Arts before deciding to study cinema independently.

Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo revolves around Hassan, a man in his 30s struggling with personal and social challenges. Living in a difficult situation with his mother and his loyal dog, Rambo, Hassan faces a crossroads where he feels Rambo is at risk. Hassan embarks on a journey to find a safe haven for Rambo, navigating obstacles and confrontations along the way. The story explores themes of loyalty, resilience, and the quest for personal redemption amid sad versity. Co-written by Mansour and Mohamed El-Hosseiny, who also co-wrote one of Mansour’s previous short films, it stars Essam Omar, Rakeen Saad, Sama Ibrahim, and Ahmed Bahaa. It is produced by Rasha Hosny, and received production support from prestigious film festivals and funds including AFAC (The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture), the Red Sea International Film Festival, the Fonds Image de la Francophonie, the El Gouna Film Festival, the Amman International Film Festival, and The Royal Film Commission of Jordan. The film is also co-produced by Film Clinic, founded by the renowned Egyptian producer and screenwriter Mohamed Hefzy.

The Venice Orizzonti Extra section, in which Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo was selected, is a curated selection of up to 10 works across various genres showcasing innovation and originality in their engagement with the audience.

Exploring themes of isolation and the haunting influence of the past, Perfumed With Mint follows Alaa, a doctor in his 30s, and his estranged friend Mahdy, who is afflicted by the strange phenomenon of mint growing out of his body. While the mint attracts danger, they navigate a deteriorating city and confront former allies from whom they are now estranged. The film delves into the struggle to escape a nightmarish reality while grappling with memories of loss and betrayal. It stars Alaaeddin Hamada, Mahdy Abo-Bahat, Abdelrahman Zin Eldin, and Hatem Enam Moustafa.

Mohamed Hamdy, the cinematographer and director of the film, is an Emmy Award-winning cinematographer from Egypt renowned for his impactful work in documentary filmmaking. He was the cinematographer and co-producer for Jehane Noujaim’s Oscar-nominated The Square (2013), which won the Audience Award at Sundance and the People’s Choice Award at TIFF. His credits also include Greg Barker’s We Are the Giant (2014), Gini Reticker’s The Trials of Spring (2015), and Petra Costa and Lea Glob’s Olmo & the Seagull (2015), which won the Best Nordic Dox Award at CPH, and was named Best Documentary at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival. In addition, Hamdy has worked on numerous television specials and commercials for prestigious networks such as the BBC, HBO, Hulu, and Netflix.

Beatrice Fiorentino, the general delegate of the Venice International Film Critics’ Week described Perfumed With Mint as the statement of a “generation condemned to perennial exile, misunderstood and hunted down for its flowering ‘otherness’. Magic realism becomes a filter through which the film photographs North Africa’s social unrest, in a region still torn between tradition and modernity. A stunner movie with an almost pictorial visual style, rigorous and hypnotising.”

Aïcha by the Tunisian editor and director Mehdi M Barsaoui revolves around Aya, a woman in her late twenties, who feels suffocated by her stagnant life in southern Tunisia. After surviving a catastrophic minivan crash, she sees an opportunity for rebirth. She escapes to Tunis, assuming a new identity to reinvent herself. However, her new life is threatened when she unwittingly becomes the key witness in a serious police mistake. The film stars Fatma Sfar, Nidhal Saadi, Yasmine Dimassi and Hela Ayed.

Mehdi M Barsaoui is a Tunisian filmmaker known as the director of critically acclaimed short films Sideways (2010), Bobby (2014), and A Son (2019). His debut feature, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won the Venice Horizons for Best Actor Award, also won 16 awards from prestigious regional and international festivals including three awards from the Cairo International Film Festival, César’s Best Actor Award, Lumiere’s Best Actor Award, and a special mention from the Carthage Film Festival.

For his part Scandar Copti is a renowned Palestinian filmmaker and visual artist, celebrated for his acclaimed feature film Ajami (2009), co-directed by Yaron Shani, which garnered over 15 awards, including a Camera d’Or Special Mention at Cannes and a nomination for the 82nd Academy Awards. His video art projects have been showcased globally at prestigious venues. Copti led the Film and New Media programme at NYU Abu Dhabi from 2014 to 2017 and is currently teaching at NYUAD.

Happy Holidays, Copti’s second feature film as writer and director, is about a student’s involvement in a minor accident that triggers a series of revelations, unravelling her secret double life and exposing the hidden dualities of her relatives. It stars Manar Shehab, Wafaa Aoun, Toufic Danial, and Meirav Memoresky. The film received support from funds such as the European Council Cultural Fund Eurimages, the Doha Film Institute, AFAC, and Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein.

Both Aïcha and Happy Holidays are participating in Venice’s Orizzonti section, which is an international competition spotlighting films that showcase cutting-edge aesthetic and expressive trends. It focuses particularly on debut films, emerging talents, independent features, and under-the-radar cinema.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the sudden and tragic death of Maroun Baghdadi, a Lebanese filmmaker who contributed significantly to both documentary and fiction filmmaking during the Lebanese Civil War, working from 1973 until his death in 1993. In the film Maroun Returns to Beirut, showcased in the Venice Classics section, Lebanese director Feyrouz Serhal embarks on a day trip through Beirut, exploring the city from the standpoint of Maroun’s life and work. She encounters close associates who share their experiences, and as she delves into Maroun’s career, the social and political backdrop of the city emerges. The film reflects on the last 50 years of Lebanon’s history from a contemporary perspective.

Serhal earned her MA in film and screen studies from Goldsmiths College, University of London, following a successful career as a director and producer at leading Arab TV channels in the Middle East. She has also created several independent short video works. Her award winning debut short fiction film, Tshweesh, premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 2017.

The Venice Classics section includes a selection of notable restorations of classic films and documentaries about cinema or influential filmmakers, both past and present.

After enduring 30 years of religious and military dictatorship and a prolonged Civil War, the Sudanese people toppled their oppressive regime on April 11, 2019. Sudan, Remember Us by Hind Meddeb, showcases the revolution through the lives of individuals like Shajan, Rufaida, Maha, Samah, Hamza, Al-Tahir, and Sabri. The film chronicles the efforts of ordinary citizens striving for freedom, equality, and change. It captures Sudan’s journey from military dictatorship to civilian rule, highlighting both the fierce repression they faced and their initial political triumphs.

Born in Châtenay-Malabry, Paris, Hind Meddeb is a French-Tunisian-Moroccan journalist and documentary filmmaker. She has written and co-directed several documentaries, including De Casa au Paradis (2008), Electro Chaabi (2013), and Paris Stalingrad (2019). In both her films and her journalism, Meddeb has highlighted the social protests and cultural movements of young people in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. She has documented their social conditions and political expressions, particularly in the context of the Arab revolutions.

Sudan, Remember Us participates in the Giornate degli Autori section out of competition. Founded in 2004 as an independent section of the Venice Film Festival, Giornate degli Autori is inspired by the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and supported by Italian film associations ANAC and 100autori. The event highlights high quality cinema with a focus on innovation, originality, and independence, showcasing carefully selected films in competition and in out of competition special screenings and events.

In Shadows, the short animation film by Rand Beiruty that is participating in the Venice Orizzonti Short Films Competition, Ahlam’s first airport experience is clouded by the weight of the past she is leaving behind. Guided by a blue deer, she revisits traumatic childhood memories, including her early marriage and painful childbirth. Amidst the airport’s bustling and harsh reality, the deer evolves into a resolute symbol of her hope to heal and achieve her dream of becoming a flight attendant.

Rand Beiruty’s artistic journey includes stints at Berlinale Talents, Beirut Talents, and others. She was nominated for the Robert Bosch Film Prize in 2018 and 2020. Her filmography includes the short animation films Halfway (2017), Nudar (2018), Encountering Samir (2020), and her debut feature documentary Tell Them About Us (2024), which had a shared world premiere at the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival and at Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival.

Final Cut in Venice is an industry initiative that has been assisting the completion of films from Africa and five Middle Eastern countries—Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria—since 2013. Part of the Venice Production Bridge at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, directed by Alberto Barbera, this programme offers filmmakers the chance to present their work-in-progress to global industry experts, helping them advance through post-production and gain market visibility. This year five film projects by Arab filmmakers were selected for the Venice Final Cut programme out of seven projects: Aisha Can’t Fly Away, a fiction film by Morad Mostafa; My Father’s Scent, a fiction film by Mohamed Siam and Your Daughter, a docufiction film by Sara Shazli from Egypt; In This Darkness I See You, a fiction film by Nadim Tabet from Lebanon, and Those Who Watch Over, a documentary by the Moroccan Belgian director Karima Saidi.

 

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* A version of this article appears in print in the 1 August, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly