CAI-BER (Al Kahera Berlin)

  • CAI-BER (Al Kahera Berlin)
Type : Fiction
Original title :
Principal country concerned : Column : Cinema/tv
Year of production : 2021
Format : Short
Running time : 17 (in minutes)
http://www.facebook.com/CAIBERFILM/

In a post revolution Cairo, after numerous failed trials to escape the status quo of her generation's depression, Nour, a 29 young woman, secretly arranges fleeing her homeland.
Hours before her departure, She embarks on a journey of struggle with a patriarchal society and a fight within to keep her hidden secret.

starring
Mariam Al-Ferjani, Ibrahim El-Naggary, Nabil Nour El-Din

a film by Ahmed ABDELSALAM - أحمد عبدالسلام



Egypt / England, 2021, Fiction, 17 mins

First short drama



Original Title: Al Kahera Berlin
​Year of production: 2021
Length: 17min
Countries: Egypt, England
Shooting Format: Digital
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Dialogue: Arabic

Director's Statement
I grew up away from my parents as they decided, like most Egyptian parents in the 90s, to follow the most common dream at that time; traveling to the Gulf and working there. I still remember the day they left for Saudi, leaving me behind with my grandparents. It was the first time I experienced loss and separation. That feeling kept branching out until it made its way into my adulthood.
The dream of fleeing hasn't changed from our parents' generation to ours, yet, both the intentions and reasons did. In 2019, I was on house arrest recovering from surgery, my best friend came over to "visit" as she claimed. But that wasn't her main intent. That day, she admitted to me her plans of fleeing Cairo forever with mixed feelings of fear and liberation. She made me promise to keep it between us.
I recalled the same feeling I had when my parents left and within seconds, I was that lost 7-year-old boy again. That wasn't even the first friend to leave, but she was definitely the closest. It made me think about things, about life, about the reasons why it feels like we're cursed with a sense of never belonging. What is it? Is it the rollercoaster of events this generation had to witness? Is it the failed revolution? The expectations we had of changing the world, of making it a better one? The social repression? The tainted relationships? Or is it a generational trauma?
​In my debut short film, I try to explore an answer to all these questions through a nuanced depiction of oppression where Nour fights her way out of her homeland, daring to liberate herself from social discrimination and codependent relationships. CAI - BER is an intimate portrait of my generation; a disillusioned generation yearning for a sense of belonging and a desperate hope to, someday, find home.

Producer: Joseph Adel

Director: Ahmed Abdelsalam
Screenwriter: ​Ahmed Hosny
Cinematographer: Mostafa El-Kashef
Editor: Badr Dahi
Art Directors: Hashem Raafat, Bassel Ayman
Sound Design and Mix: Moustafa Shaaban
Costume Design: Dahlia Meshrif
Production Designer: Shaimaa Magdy
Original Music: El-Waili
Production Manager: Mohamed Hassan
Color Grading & Correction: Ahmed El-Gendy

Productions: Underdog, Fauve
Co-Production: Lizard

DISTRIBUTION
Lights On
www.lightsonfilm.com/caiber.html

Websites
www.facebook.com/CAIBERFILM/
www.lightsonfilm.com/caiber.html
www.instagram.com/fauve.tv/
www.fauve.tv


FESTIVALS

2022 : Dakar Court, Decembre 05 to 10
Won: El Gouna Star for Best Arab Short Film /// El Gouna Film Festival 2021, Egypt - World Premiere

Organizations

1 files

Partners

  • Arterial network
  • Media, Sports and Entertainment Group (MSE)
  • Gens de la Caraïbe
  • Groupe 30 Afrique
  • Alliance Française VANUATU
  • PACIFIC ARTS ALLIANCE
  • FURTHER ARTS
  • Zimbabwe : Culture Fund Of Zimbabwe Trust
  • RDC : Groupe TACCEMS
  • Rwanda : Positive Production
  • Togo : Kadam Kadam
  • Niger : ONG Culture Art Humanité
  • Collectif 2004 Images
  • Africultures Burkina-Faso
  • Bénincultures / Editions Plurielles
  • Africiné
  • Afrilivres

With the support of