Egyptian film applauded by critics and gets a thumbs up from cast’s families
CAIRO: It started like any other film screening at the Cairo International Film Festival: film starts, people watch, press conference starts, some critics make uninteresting comments, few ask witty questions then everybody goes home.
This was the drill until the premier of the Egyptian film “Qass We Lezaq (Cut and Paste) turned into a theatrical show, literally. At one point, the premier was overshadowing the fine filmmaking of “Cut and Paste, which is competing for prizes in the main competition section of the festival.
Theater giant actress Soheir El Morshidy made a dramatic entrance to comment on her daughter Hanan Moutawee’s bit part.
“And thank you for convincing her [Moutawee] to accept this role, El Morshidy said with a resonating voice, interrupting film director Hala Khalil as she thanked Moutawee for accepting a three-scene role. Heads turned from the stage, on which the film stars were sitting, to follow the voice.
While she was the only family member with a grand appearance, other cast members attended the premier with their families – some came for support and others made sure to let all attendees know they are related to the stars in the spotlight.
The theatre-like acts were not limited to intruding family members, however.
Film star Sherif Mounir started joking with attendees of the press conference about keeping the event problem free. “We are all happy, let’s keep it this way, he said as he left his seat, stood closer to the audience and adopted his carefree screen persona.
He was referring to a comment he made about “production problems. He didn’t elaborate so the journalists couldn’t let it go, especially that TV hostess Poussy Shalaby took the microphone to explain that the network she works for was the one that picked up the tab.
Mounir’s small act did divert attention, but not for long.
Khalil explained that shooting never stopped because of funding, but because most of the scenes were taken outdoors in Cairo’s busiest streets. “It was difficult, she added.
A few minutes later, Mounir had to explain what he meant. It was the post-filming phase that he was referring to, where executive producer Youssef El Deeb was nowhere to be found. The other co-producer Mohamed Zein had to take control to complete the film, Mounir said.
But Mounir also noted that it was his schedule that hampered the shooting, leading to some delays.
On the same note, many asked about lead actress Hanan Turk, who was absent from the premier. Khalil said Turk couldn’t make it for personal reasons.
Turk had donned the Islamic veil around the same time the film was in the shooting phase, but Khalil said Turk had promised her not to wear the veil except after finishing her scenes. And she did. “On the day following the last day of shooting, she wore the veil, Khalil added.
Had Turk attended the festival, she might have taken a wave of criticism from attending critics. Her decision to wear the veil wasn’t welcome by many.
Enduring the heat, however, wouldn’t have been new to the actress.
Last year, Turk, along with the cast and crew of the controversial film “Dunia (The World) had to stand in the same movie theater and defend their point of view against an angry audience.
The discussion would have been different though: in Dunia the criticism was how liberal the film was in discussing taboo issues like female genital mutilation and in “Cut and Paste the criticism would have been about her newly found conservatism.
Theatrical interruptions aside, the main theme of the press conference was commending Khalil’s fine filmmaking.
Khalil, who also wrote the script, made sure to share the credit with the rest of the crew, singling many of them by name, most notably cinematographer Tarek El Telmissany and musician Tamer Karawan, who wrote the score.
“We had to write the score twice, Karawan said, explaining the effort they exerted to get the most suitable soundtrack. He had one ready before the shooting but Khalil asked him to come up with a new one after the filming was over.
“That’s Hala, Mounir said with a knowing smile and a look that said the director was more than a perfectionist in her work and they’ve all learnt it firsthand.
