+ pre-recorded Q&A with director Marianne Khoury
A mother and her daughter explore together four generations of women from the same family, an Egyptian family, originally from the Levant, a family where life and cinema have always been, and continue to be, intrinsically linked.
This is an intimate story between personal archival footage where reality and fiction interplay and the autobiographical films of Youssef Chahine.
From Alexandria to Cairo, passing by Paris and Havana, a mother and daughter take us on a personal journey, both visceral and visual, as they question their emotions and destinies.
Director’s notes
I grew up in a family where cinema was our world, but unlike my family, cinema was not meant to be my destiny. For my late uncle, Youssef Chahine, cinema was a religion. For my father, his autodidact brother in law, it was a way to make a living.
I approached this film as an investigation, a journey into my lineage. I wanted to understand the source of our neurosis, our sufferings, especially on the women’s side of the family.
I wanted to understand this psychological malaise that is of an emotional and feminine nature, transmitted from generation to generation: from my grandmother to my mother, from my mother to me and, of course, from me to my daughter.
I chose a narrative arc born out of family archival footages and anchored in a mother-daughter dialogue: we discuss about life and death, identity, cinema, our dreams and love.
We confront the unspoken, the secrets, the pains. By exploring these existential and emotional questions, we dig into the history of our family; our identity, our geography. We get closer to the source.
This is my way of dealing with my grief.
By letting go, I can finally embrace cinema.
I can finally embrace life.
Production notes
LET’S TALK (EHKEELY)
Director: Marianne Khoury
Presented by: Misr International
Producer: Marianne Khoury
World Sales: Pyramide International
Screenplay: Marianne Khoury
Cinematography: Marianne Khoury, Sara Shazli
Editing: Perihan Mourad
Sound: Vincent Verdoux
Sound Design: Rym Debbarh-Mounir
Egypt 2019
95 mins
THE TIME IS NEW: SELECTIONS FROM CONTEMPORARY ARAB CINEMA
200 Meters
Tue 7 Sep 20:50; Wed 15 Sep 18:10
As Above, So Below (Kama fissamaa’, kathalika ala al-ard)
Wed 8 Sep 20:45; Fri 1 Oct 18:10 (+ pre-recorded Q&A with director Sarah Francis)
143 Sahara Street (143 rue du désert)
Sat 11 Sep 11:30; Mon 20 Sep 18:15
It Must Be Heaven
Sat 11 Sep 20:40; Mon 27 Sep 18:00; Mon 4 Oct 14:30
Let’s Talk Ehkeely
Mon 13 Sep 18:00 (+ pre-recorded Q&A with director Marianne Khoury); Tue 5 Oct 20:50
Tlamess
Tue 14 Sep 20:40; Thu 30 Sep 18:00
The Man Who Sold His Skin (L’Homme qui a vendu sa peau)
Thu 16 Sep 20:50
Talking About Trees
Mon 20 Sep 14:30; Mon 27 Sep 20:45; Sun 3 Oct 18:00
You Will Die at Twenty (Satamoto fel eshreen)
Thu 23 Sep 20:30 (+ pre-recorded Q&A with director Amjad Abu Alala); Sat 2 Oct 14:20
Narrative Encounters: Shorts Programme
Fri 24 Sep 20:40; Tue 5 Oct 18:10
Adam
Sat 25 Sep 14:20; Mon 4 Oct 20:50
Abou Leila
Sun 26 Sep 18:00; Sat 2 Oct 20:30
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Programme notes and credits compiled by the BFI Documentation Unit
Notes may be edited or abridged
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