2021 70 I 52 min
Egypt / Tunisia / Germany
Genre: Documentary
Director: Ines Marzouk
Producer: Kesmat Elsayed
Sales Agent: Limonero Films, UK
Golden-age Sarannah is married to Hamdy, an Egyptian man 30-years her junior. Could this be true love – or is it yet another unspoken ‘business’ relationship so often seen in contemporary Luxor? Sarannah feels she was given a new shot at life at 50 and can now re-live her youth. Madly in love with Hamdy, all she wants to do is spend time with him and enjoy life. In her eyes, he is not like the other gold-digging Egyptian men. Certainly not like Khaled, who married her friend Nerchia, before finding a much younger 2nd Egyptian wife to provide him with children. Nerchia struggles to accept that the kind loving man she loved changed so drastically. She has to make hard decisions now that she knows his true color. As for Abdel-Rahim, a local tour guide married with 2 kids, he will do anything to find a well-to-do foreign woman to secure his future. In the primitive part of the touristic city of Luxor, locals try to escape poverty by marrying older, foreign women. Abdel, like many others, connects with women online to entice them to move to Luxor. It is through an online platform he connects with an older German woman, Monica. After a few months of online romance, she falls for him, moves to Luxor and promises to take care of him. Through confessional meetings with these couples, we get a rare and honest insight into these relationships – mutual arrangements of a sort, that blurs the boundaries between business and romance.
Festivals & Awards
2021 64 min
Egypt
Genre: Documentary
Director: Hala Galal
Producer: Kesmat Elsayed
Distributor: MEC Films (Europe)
Hala Galal finds Cairo hunting her, fear crippling her, she meets Heba and Aya. Two women who are leading a single life but managing to face their fears and carve a space for their dreams.
Festivals & Awards
2011 62 min
Egypt
Genre: Documentary
Director: Bassam Mortada
Producer: Kesmat Elsayed
Film follows six Egyptian journalists during the first 18 days of the Egyptian revolution 2011, focussing on their stories and their inner conflicts as they are torn between sympathizing with the rebellion and doing their duty as neutral reporters for an independent newspaper. Leading up to the stepping down of Hosni Mubarak, the viewer gets swept up in the events on and around Tharir Square in Cairo with stunning and often very moving footage and interviews.
2024 6 x 20 min
Sudan / Germany
Genre: Satirical Series
Director: Hassan
Producer: Kompass / Sudan
Co-Producer: Kesmat Elsayed / Germany
LOGLINE + SHORT SYNOPSIS
“Conference 27” is a satirical dark comedy web series that subtly and indirectly delves into the enduring question: “Why does Sudan continue to grapple with the challenge of building the ideal state, and what are the obstacles in our path?” This thought-provoking inquiry is examined across a spectrum of themes, encompassing the economy, identity, governance, militias, gender dynamics, and societal conventions.
A group of “mediocre” Sudanese politicians travel for a conference to find that they have been abducted by an anonymous organization and forced to come up with a vision for all of Sudan’s lingering problems by the end of the conference.
After being invited to “conference 27” in Berlin, a group of Sudanese politicians discover that they are being held captive by an anonymous organization that calls itself “Forces of the Dark”. This organization threatens to never set them free if they fail to formulate a comprehensive vision that solves all Sudan’s lingering issues.
Following the onset of the war in April 2023, discussions on political matters either exacerbated polarization or seemed inconsequential to those grappling with the hardships of losing their homes, families, and homeland. Social media trends revealed a collective sense of mourning and a heightened interest in entertainment. This web series emerges as an endeavor to communicate with the audience using a tone they are receptive to. Through a subtle exploration of diverse political and social issues, this series aims to blend the significance of pertinent questions with an artistic approach to presenting them.
https://linktr.ee/conference27
