Feature Documentary Film
TOTAL BUDGET
US $332,410
CONFIRMED FINANCING
US $110,000
CONTACT
skatsha@earthlink.net
+1 7182224724
For an experiment in collaboration, 12 African musicians tour America to bring attention to the global water crisis. As they perform across a divided country, their own cultural differences underline the challenges of working together, no matter how critical the message.
Far From The Nile is a verité journey that follows 12 African musicians on a 3-month tour through America’s heartland. They speak different languages, come from different countries, are trained in different musical styles and traditions, and have never worked together before.
They have been united by The Nile Project, a musical collective raising awareness around the issue of water scarcity in Africa. For most of them, it’s their first time in the U.S., and they land in the country just days before the first travel ban is issued.
As the characters roam, ride, practice and perform, we experience the highs and lows of the group’s discovery of America at a conflicted point in history. Through this lens, larger issues around gender, politics, religion, and socio-economic differences are explored.
The project’s message around the fate of the river that sustains over 450 million is a plea for collaboration and collective action. Eleven countries share the “thin blue vein of geographical fate,” which is the iconic Nile River.
Using the common language of music as a platform for change, the message of unity is an inspiring and hopeful one—one that ultimately moves beyond the Nile basin. As the personal experiences of these characters illustrate, collaboration of any kind across boundaries is intensely challenging. Is it possible for these 12 artists to embrace their commonality and unite as musicians? And with so much of the world pulling people apart, can we collectively learn from their experience?
I am an Egyptian-American filmmaker who was born in the United States, grew up in Cairo, and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. As someone raised between the West and the Middle East, my cultural identity has always felt somewhere in the middle, making me interested in bridging cultural gaps on both sides of the Atlantic, and in a continual exploration of what unifies us as people—regardless of race, ethnicity, or religion.
My passion for documentary filmmaking was sparked by the events of September 11, 2001. As a young man beginning his career, new to the city; on that day, I knew that as an Egyptian, an American and a New Yorker, my world—and the entire world—had changed forever. It was clear that I had to be part of the conversation.
In 2016, I was introduced to The Nile Project, and was instantly mesmerized by their unique musical style shifting between language and regional style effortlessly, by their method of coming together to compose and perform music, and was struck by how each of these characters had their own story and something different to offer the ensemble.
I am drawn to the idea of people coming together to find a common language, share, and collaborate. Can we work together across borders, for our common good? At a divided time in our collective history, the message of the film is needed now more than ever.
I was first introduced to Sherief Elkatsha through his film Cairo Drive, a biting and entertaining portrait of Cairo as seen through the pandemonium of its streets. Cleverly using the nightmarish traffic conditions to make a broader statement about the zeitgeist of a nation, Sherief’s film is a beautiful balancing act of wit, irony and contradiction that gracefully captures the essence of humanity—all through the lens of traffic.
As the Artistic Director of the American Vicarious, a not-for-profit generator of creative content that aspires to reflect on America’s ideals and realities uniting and dividing its people, I am drawn and committed to supporting Sherief and his current film Far From the Nile.
The subtlety of Sherief’s voice, his ability to reflect with humor and compassion, and his experiences as a first-generation American makes him the ideal artist to explore this divisive and tribal moment. With Far From the Nile, Sherief has the potential to explore the microcosm of tribal tendencies and how we might overcome them.
I am confident that this film should and will be made. Sherief is a natural storyteller with an infectious energy. He creates with a deep and personal sense of need, resulting in a truthful and innovative artistic voice. He lives his life with a voracious curiosity and an accessible kindness that naturally translates into his creative work.
2018: Mohamed Abozekry and Karkadé
2014: Cairo Drive
2008: Egypt: We Are Watching You
2006: Butts Out