The programme is available to watch on the website of Warehouse421 until September 16.
Warehouse421, a Abu Dhabi-based arts and design centre dedicated to showcasing and nurturing creative production across the region and Dubai-based independent cinema house Cinema Akil have launched their Summer Film Programme in collaboration with Film My Design, a Cairo-based film festival. The programme started on August 1 and will run until September 16, 2021.
To celebrate its 10th season, the programme will run a series titled Makers in the Sun.
The programme comprises film screenings, essays, talks, and Q&As. The screening series focuses on the locally produced original shorts, in conjunction with pre-recorded conversations with the filmmakers and directors of the festival. The programme is available to watch on the website of Warehouse421 until September 16.
Film My Design was first launched at the Zawya arthouse cinema in downtown Cairo in partnership with the Milano Design Film Festival, bridging the worlds of design and film through commissioned, locally-produced documentaries that spotlight local design studios, artisans, and craftspeople.
The films include Patterns From The Sun, Where Did Ramses Go?, The White Hell, Beyond the Factory and Cairopolitan.
Patterns From The Sun, directed by Muhammed Taymour, is about Noha and Nayera, co-founders of the Blue ++ Studio. Following their true passion for nature, travel, and design, a dynamic duo decided to embark on a challenging journey to Sinai to document what may become their most unique life experience. Noha and Nayera, co-founders of the Blue ++ Studio are two designers from Cairo who are developing a new cloth-printing technique called Cyanotype. They use light to be the source of inspiration, creating random, unexpected and unprecedented results which then formed their unique outfit. Through these unique and natural printed patterns, the outfit preserves the soul of Sinai and documents a creative journey across the breathtaking Sinai trails. The film documentary approach is experimental, and the element of surprise forms a challenging yet exciting part of the film.
Director Amr Bayoumi of Where Did Ramses Go? remembers that he documented the journey of the statue of Ramses II with his personal camera in 2006. The journey was from Ramses square, one of the largest squares in Cairo, to his new place in the Grand Egyptian Museum. It was the biggest transfer process Cairo streets ever witnessed, a journey that took over 12 hours in the charming Cairo atmosphere. Amr is inspired by this journey to tell his story with the statue since childhood as his house was a few steps from Ramses square and his personal relation with his father, who was a symbol of superior authority in his youth.
Stonecutters and heavy-plant drivers navigate through clouds of white dust, which then enters their lungs, making breathing difficult. Three hundred square kilometres of limestone quarries and 35,000 quarrymen. The White Hell, directed by Ahmed Assem, Mahmoud Khaled and Omar Shash is nominated for the International Prize for Mediterranean Documentary and Reportage (PriMed) 2020.
First released as a 20-part docu-series produced by Mada Masr, the feature-length documentary Beyond the Factory, directed by Mostafa Darwish, Menam Sami, Ali Sherif, Haisam Hassan Mahgoub, Reham Ghareeb, delves into the world of designers, craftspeople, creators and artisans – many of whom are the last remaining in their trade in the country. From weavers to zincographers, saddlers to tarboush-makers, Beyond the Factory is a homage to the art of craft and the people that dedicate their lives to its perfection.
Cairopolitan by Aly Soliman first released as a docu-series produced by Cairopolitan — a design concept store and art gallery based in Garden City, Cairo — the plot is driven by the belief that it’s not only pharaonic history that embodies the spirit of Egypt but rather the practical details of contemporary life in Cairo that has become home for all subcultures along the years. The four-chapter documentary takes a keen look into four everyday objects that carry the spirit of the city.
