Feature Narrative
TOTAL BUDGET
US $400.000
CONFIRMED FINANCING
US $240.000
CONTACT
shbncin@yahoo.com
After his wife’s death, Khalil, 70 years old, realize that his routine life is about to end without having explored much. So he decides to make a trip to Panama.
Ten whole years have passed since "Khalil Suleiman has retired after a long full of routine career. Unlike his wife Ihsan Khalil considers that his life has already ended, So he’s thinking of investing the money that he’ll earn in a few months from his money collective (40,000 LE) into buying a separate cemetery plot, that will unite him with his family after death. Ihsan wants to renovate the house and enjoy her being. So Mr. Khalil pretends to give in to her insistence, but without giving up on trying to convincing her. Suddenly Ihsan dies and Khalil is left alone in confronting people, after spending a whole life trying to avoid them. Khalil realizes that he has never in his life left Cairo and that in fact he never travelled anywhere. He thinks that he cannot die without having seen any other country in his life and so he decides to take the plane for the first time in his life. Loneliness, on one hand, and the travel arrangements on the other, force Mr. Khalil to get involved in his neighbor›s lives although he didn’t know any of them except for Abdel Aal;, a photographer who got retired after being diagnosed with cancer. He meets with his neighbor Ms Azza, living across his apartment, a retired belly dancer. He also meets w his neighbor "Yasser, a religiously committed young man, unfertile afraid of undergoing an artificial insemination procedure because he believes it is forbidden in his religion, And his neighbor “Irene”, who is an introvert Veterinarian. He starts the trip preparations but he got faced with obstacles related to his health, not having a passport, he don’t talk any language but Arabic and finally his son’s objection. Mr. Khalil receives the money from the collective and he is very close to his dream travel, after making everyone around him happy... But Yasser’s wife suddenly gives birth and the little baby gets admitted to the nursery which is very costly. Mr. Khalil gives the money he received to Yasser, and goes back to his life that has been turned upside down.
• Has Suleiman grown taller ?
And so Wondered Suleiman’s father, when visited by his 30 year-old son Suleiman.
Those were the words that summarized my second short film (my graduation project at the High Cinema Institute).This film was the second installment in a short film trilogy that I have always longed to make before my debut feature….”The Day trilogy” : Three short films about my close relationships. “Rise and Shine” : The beginning of the day…about my mother. “At Day’s End” : The middle of the day…about my father. “At Night” : The end of the day…about my love. My obsession wasn’t with making films about those persons, it was more of an urge to reincarnate my relationship with them and what they represent to me through the films. And then there was “At Day’s End”, in which I dealt with my relationship with my father…. or I’d rather say : Self-assessed my attitude towards it, for the film to be a reformulation of the relationship afterwards, a relationship that I have had always tried in vain to deal with in a film. Then finally I found what I have always searched for, in a short story by Ibrahim Aslan called “At Day’s End”. It was part of a series of short stories published weekly in “Al Ahram” newspaper…How strange! The story even carried the name of the same part of the day!! And even more strange was the father-son relationship there : exactly the same as my experience!! This story is mine and its going to make it as my next film…There goes the story and there goes the film : “At Day’s End”. fall 2009 … Now, my first feature film. I am searching for my first feature and I can’t find it…or in better words : I don’t know what I really want to make. Aslan continues publishing his short story series every Wednesday in “Al Ahram”, daily life situations involving Suleiman’s father and mother in their narrow space, Winter 2009.. Still searching for my first feature film…it seems that I have come closer to what I want. It’s the drama of daily life….but how? -Aslan publishes his short story series in one volume under the name “Two chambers and a living room”, “Shouldn’t you have called it “Two rooms and a parlor” Mr. Ibrahim?”- He answers, after a moment of his usual silence: “No, it’s good that way, two chambers and a living room” - “As you like, Mr. Ibrahim”
I read the whole series of short stories in one volume. It wasn’t just a book of short stories, or an exquisite piece of literature, the characters are alive and carefully studied, drifting together in their limited space…and as I finished reading, I had two feelings : First, that there was something missing in my short film “At Day’s End”, and that there was still some space in that book that the film didn’t unleash. Second, I felt that there was someone in the world of literature who was speaking with my own tongue. In literature, Aslan sees things just like I see them in cinema. It is the very normal daily life drama which I have always loved, which may lack major events or plotsbut is filled with emotions, It’s all about the normal and simple details that overwhelm us when we stop at and watch closely, whether in cinema or in literature. Here is where I find Aslan turning dust into gold. The simplest characters and events that we all pass by and see every day are easily turned by him into great literature. That also is what I find common with my taste in cinema, this formula is what attracts me the most, and this is what I haven’t had the bravery of even thinking about making, for major production related issues that belong to the cinematic environment in Egypt. I recall one of the biggest directors in Egypt who was a member of the jury that watched my graduation project, telling me literally : “Your film is beautiful, but don’t you ever think that you’ll be able to do “that” when you graduate and are about to make mainstream features”
But now, and like many other things that have changed in this country during the past two years, I think it’s time for this change to reflect on the film industry. I also think it’s time for me to make movies that I would love to watch, even if the cinematic environment refuses this. - To the daily life drama which I love, - To the tiny details that make up our lives and yet we just neglect, - To father-son relationships,
I make my first feature film: “Two rooms and a parlor”
A cultural manager, radio host and a producer in the field of cinema. She works currently as Arts and Culture program Manager at Al-Ismaelia for real estate investment, and radio host on NRJ Egypt. In the past few years, she worked as a Band manager with Salalem and Sharmoofers in addition to working as a freelancer producer on different projects. She worked with Wika (Cairo) on the production and distribution of Nadine Khan’s first feature film Harag w Marag (Chaos and Disorder, 2011) On the year 20112012- she managed the Express Fund at the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), a competitive program providing one-year of funding to artists from the Arab World.
Najdi studied Public Relations and Advertising at the Lebanese University in Beirut and in 2009 she got a Master’s degree in Cultural Management and International Cooperation from the University of Barcelona. Between 2003 and 2007 she coordinated numerous workshops on topics ranging from photography to cartoon film making, to documentary film making. She helped organizing the film festivals Palestine in New Cinema (20022004-) and Children of the Margin Create their own World (2001, 2003, 2005), both held in Beirut. Lately she is working on Sherif el Bendary’s feature, “Two rooms and a Parlor:” and the short movie of Pedros Temizian: “The Trip”.
Film Clinic was founded in 2005 and is managed by the renowned Producer and Scriptwriter Mohamed Hefzy. Film Clinic is now considered one of the leading production companies in the MENA region that not only creates unique features but also empowers talents to do so.
We have a passion for the filmmaking industry as we enjoy operating in all its diverse fields on both national and international platforms. Our philosophy is to blend the creative, vibrant ideas of the young generation with the expertise of the best in cinema in order to present strong movies to audiences of exquisite taste and an equal admiration to the beloved silver screen.