DISORIENTATION – LFF2017

To disorient: verb
dis·ori·ent \(ˌ)dis-ˈȯr-ē-ˌent\
a : to cause to lose bearings : displace from normal position or relationship
b : to cause to lose the sense of time, place, or identity

Being dropped on the Earth at some point in space and time is, for the largest part of someone’s life, a disorienting experience, a journey into trying to find a direction, often being thrown off course. Dreams and fantasies are a guiding light for action ,but have to be readjusted when confronted with reality. All the films in this program explore how an individual has to deal with outside forces, other people and a set of cultural/historical rules to be navigated. How do you orient yourself in a space where the walls keep shifting?

HAPPILY EVER AFTER

Nada Riyadh, Ayman Amin / Egypt / 2016 / 65’ / Doc
Following a long distance relationship against the backdrop of the aftermath of the revolution, the film shows the complexity of having to navigate personal identity, expectations and dreams not only as a couple, but in the large context of a pressuring, unstable society. An impressive and nuanced feature debut.

A PRESENT FROM THE PAST

Kawthar Younis / Egypt / 2015 / 80’ / Doc
Mokhtar, a filmmaking professor, receives an unexpected gift on his 75th birthday from his daughter Kawthar, a filmmaker in her early twenties. With two plane tickets to Rome, they set out in search of his long lost love – Patrizia – the woman he promised to return to thirty-three years ago.

IDLE BY THE SEA

Kinda Hassan / Egypt, Greece, Lebanon / 2017 / 20’ / Experimental
We’re covered with impermeable skin and our eyes are turned outwards. How easy it is to forget what we’re made of. Sudden losses remind us that, while we are our body, our body isn’t ours only.

SOMETHING COLD

Amrosh Badr / Egypt / 2016 / 30’ / Fiction
Five different characters are followed in their daily occupations in one neighborhood in Alexandria. A very realistic portrait of Egypt, giving us an insightful look into the despair that’s sweeping the country after the revolution.

TIME HELIX

Musica Andreas Reihse, text and voice Mohamed Gawad, voice Dice Miller / 2017 / 8’ 57” / Audio Track
A labyrinth of time and space, cinema and all of its images, and how to navigate them. Part film-manifesto, part audio-essay, part cinematic-séance, channelled via the voice and words of Cairo-based filmmaker/writer, Mohamed A. Gawad.

Special Screening
July 24th
11.00 p.m. – Lido
July 25th
11.00 p.m. – Lido
July 26th
11.00 p.m. – Lido
July 27th
10.00 p.m. – Cortile Sasso
July 28th
10.00 p.m. – Cortile Sasso

Check out the program