I Have a Picture

ملخص

With the help of El Homossany, one of the oldest assistant directors in Egypt, Zedan, a young indie filmmaker, is making a documentary about Motawe Eweis, who has worked as an extra in about 1000 films in the Egyptian Cinema from the forties till now. Zedan finds himself stuck between how he wants to make his documentary and how the two old friends view filmmaking. As an extra, Motawe is expecting the director to tell him what to say and do to play his role. As an assistant director, El Homossany finds ways to dramatize every situation and help his friend, Motawe, to get into character. Between both, the idea of fake or real is questioned and the difference between fiction and documentary seems to exist. A game of power arises between El Homossany and Zedan, where Zedan realizes that we are all obliged to live our lives like Motawe; cinema extras. We all live just like accessories in the background image, waiting for a chance to become the star. A chance that may never come, leaving us extras all our lives.

عن المخرج

Zedan is an independent filmmaker, born in May 1983. He pursued his studies in filmmaking at the Jesuit Cultural Center and has always been very interested in the history of cinema. He gives workshops about Cinema history at the French Cultural Centre in Alexandria, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and other cultural places. He joined MASS, a Video art workshop for contemporary art in Alexandria in 2013 and participated as an assistant artist in Sharjah Biennale. He has worked as an assistant director in a lot of short and feature films. One of the founders of Rufy’s Film Company in Alexandria to support the independent filmmakers in Alexandria. He co-directed his First feature film; “The Mice Room,” which was a collaborative feature film with 6 directors and got screened in the official competition at Dubai Film Festival and Sao Paulo Film Festival in 2014 and other festivals worldwide. Zedan’s first feature documentary -“I Have A Picture”- was selected in DocMed workshop in 2013 and Final Cut in Venice workshop in 2014. The film had its premiere at the Gouna Film Festival in September 2017 and won Golden Star for Best Arab Documentary Film, it also won Best Documentary Film in Tripoli Film Festival in Lebanon, won Best Documentary Film at the Egyptian National Film Festival 2018, and the First prize for Best Feature Film from Sharjah Film Platform in 2019, His passion for studying and analyzing the history of cinema has led him to give many lectures and workshops on the subject. he is currently working on his Third Feature Film “The Cow Thief”.