First-time director Maggie Morgan highlights women’s issues in “Their Stories
When first-time director Maggie Morgan decided to make her debut she did it full throttle.
“I would have freaked out if I thought of doing a 35-45 minute film, Morgan said.
So instead she started with 10-minute shorts. Seven of them.
The final result – though she’s still making some final touches – is “Minhom Fihom: Hikayathom (From Within: Their Stories). The dramatic shorts are bound by one central theme: women’s lives. Morgan told The Daily Star Egypt that she always wanted to create a drama related to the seemingly ordinary and uneventful lives of people.
“People feel ‘I have a boring life’ or ‘Nothing happens to me,’ Morgan explains. In contrast to the more sentimental fairy tales where the ugly duckling turns into a beautiful swan, real lives don’t experience this dramatic metamorphosis.
But that’s precisely it: Morgan sees the extraordinary in these ordinary stories.
Each film in the series of “Their Stories centers around a woman that the viewers will immediately feel familiar with. They either remind us of members of our family out wider community. In some instances, we identify with them ourselves.
Morgan’s talent is perceptible in her uncanny ability to bring her characters to life in a matter of minutes. The direct connection she makes between the actresses and the viewer in the monologues draws you in. The women relate their stories as if divulging their innermost feelings directly to us and so an intimate connection is immediately underway. When the transition is made from the monologues to the interaction between the characters, the viewer becomes a voyeur, as if being invited to watch the close interchange.
The intimacy is enhanced by Morgan’s use of close ups and tight frames. The scenes take place in private, personal settings: a woman facing the bathroom mirror, a couple exchanging a discreet moment, a young girl divulging a secret, a wife dictating a letter to a friend. In a sense, the viewer is invited to witness and share these quiet moments.
The women in “Their Stories span the social spectrum, and each tackles a different issue. The strength of Morgan’s films lies in her ability to highlight central feminist themes without being didactic.
“It’s not the role of film to tell people to act in a certain way, she explained. “If they’re seen all together, they’re about throwing balls into people’s courts.
She unveils the issues, opening our eyes to topics that we are aware of, but for the most part on a theoretical, superficial level. As each issue becomes embodied in a character’s life, it becomes real and forces us to take notice.
“I was tired of feminist issues, said Morgan surprisingly. “But then you meet people. and you find out that just because we’re tired of hearing about molested women, doesn’t change the fact that one in four women are molested.
She refers to a report issued by an Arab recovery group, adding that 32 percent of these women are victims of domestic violence.
Morgan tackles this issue in “Rayhin Ala Fin (Where Are We Going), about a woman who is physically abused by her husband. Trying to convince her not to leave him, the husband comforts his wife, placing an ice pack on her bruised eye. But even as he’s apologizing he’s pointing out that it’s her fault, he is, after all, entitled to a warm meal and time to relax following a hard day’s work. She decides to stay, but the abuse continues.
Of the seven films, this is the most predictable in its storyline, but Morgan’s characterization makes it unpredictably insightful. This is quite a surprising result given her inexperience with drama, and recruiting a group of actors with varying levels of maturity.
Morgan studied comparative literature at the American University in Cairo, and continued with a Masters degree in film and literature. Though she worked as a producer with Media House – which specializes in social documentaries and promotional films – for eight years, she had no professional training as a director.
She is self-taught, learning from watching other directors at work and closely studying films. As a member of a jury assessing films on human rights and her experience taking part in Le Carno in 2005 and the Cannes International Film Festival in 2006, she was obligated to watch all the competition films – about 45-50 of them.
Morgan spearheaded the project which members of her team have affectionately referred to it as the “one-woman show . She wrote the scripts, approached potential investors, produced, art directed, and styled them. And of course, she directed the films, though without an assistant entailed more work than usual. It’s not surprising that by the last days of shooting she looked exhausted. That didn’t, however, lessen her enthusiasm or her drive.
Since it was her first venture into drama, and her first time to work with actors, Morgan solicited the help of Dahlia Sabbour. Her role was to translate the director’s vision to an onscreen reality. She would work closely with the actors on set and train them on character intention, giving them scenarios to help them understand how their characters should be feeling. As an amateur actor with a long resume of acting roles, Dahlia has had a great deal of experience in doing character studies.
Morgan acknowledged her invaluable input. After Sabbour held improvisation sessions with the actors, Morgan would go home and type out the transcripts and use them to revise the script. The effort is evident in the natural flow of characters’ dialogues in the final films.
The film that most showcases Mogan’s creativity is “Le Wahdi (Alone). The audience meets Zeinab, a young woman from a modest, traditional household, who was forced to leave school and stay home to help care for her family. Trapped by her circumstances she felt that she was robbed of any choices. She found her freedom in her weekly, clandestine visits to the swimming pool.
The quality of the films is another pleasant surprise given they were shot by DV Cam. The Directors of Photography (DOP), Raouf Abdel Aziz and Ahmed Gabr, translated Morgan s vision into film beautifully – a commendable effort given the budget of LE 144,000, “so far added Morgan. Most of the money went to paying for the locations, actors and the DoPs.
A friend of Morgan who lives in the US, Hala Fouad, who is interested in women and women’s rights, offered to fund a large part of the filming – with Morgan co-producing. Fouad’s. Since she was living abroad, Fouad was mainly involved with choosing the scripts from the original 15 that Morgan submitted.
“She brainstormed with me, gave me her feedback, Morgan recalled. “I didn’t feel she was imposing restrictions on me. She was, in fact any director’s dream backer.
The films highlight issues such as breast cancer, abuse, and prostitution. The women who contend with these issues are not victims, however. Morgan makes it clear to her audience that they have a choice. Also, refreshingly, the men are not perceived as “the enemy. Rather, Morgan makes them seem sympathetic.
The most prominent stories are those of everyday life. Why does marriage lead to the death of romance? What childhood dreams have we given up? How can women gain independence from the roles society has imposed on them? These are universal themes that transgress social class and age.
And it’s this universality that allows “Their Stories to become “our stories.
“Their Stories will premier at CADRE’s First Arab Women’s Film Festival at the Cairo Opera House on March 13, 7pm.
