SELECTION 2012 - " I TOLD PRESIDENT MUBARAK "
Documentary (see article underneath COMPETITION PARTIE 1)
1)
Have you had problems during the production of this
documentary?
Egypt proved to be one of the most difficult
places to film in the Arab world. People are extremely sensitive to cameras and
always questioning the motive behind anyone shooting in public spaces.
My problem was partly
with the Mubarak authoritarian regime. I was stopped several times by the
intelligence agencies, the army and the police, but managed to reason with
everybody quietly, except when citizens stop you and question your intentions
or ask which TV station you belong to in order to place you. This makes filming
in public relatively complicated.
Egypt is the largest
producer of Arab movies, which means that people should be used to cameras in
urban and even in rural districts. But no. The Mubarak regime marketed a scheme
urging the population to watch for foreigners with professional cams in hand,
because some might wish to exploit and misrepresent Egypt’s image abroad. This
notion makes every filmmaker a suspect, especially those who don’t look
Egyptian.
I was asked if I was an
Israeli spy or working for American TV. I was stopped and not allowed to film
at the pyramid site in Giza, at the Red sea, at Tahreer Square several times,
and at a mall in Masser Gedeeda I was not allowed to bring my big camera inside
the mall despite that it was inside a shoulder bag. All this didn’t prevent us
from getting the footage we needed for the film, but we went through some extra
hassle.
In regards to the film
“I told President Mubarak” people were open when we were shooting outdoor, but
only when seeing Hamdeen Sabahy being filmed by us. Sabahy was a
parliamentarian at the time and a known figure in Egyptian politics.
For the record Hamdeen
Sabahy’s dream was to become a film director, but he went into politics
instead. Still, he has a passion for filmmaking and suggested ideas and even
filmed us at some points. During the three weeks I remained with him, he
understood what I wanted and was a great help during the filming process.
2) Tell us
about your career.
I started my career as a
visual artist in Beirut, moved to Europe in the 90s, got a Master in
Architecture from Edinburg College of Art and did a Ph.D at Copenhagen
University in Visual Culture. I started my academic tutoring at different
academies in Scandinavia, went on to work with art critic and theoretical
writing, and finally to curating.
 |
| Khaled Ramadan - director of "I told President Mubarak" |
I co-curated the
European Biennial Manifesta 8 in Spain, worked as a Senior Advisor and cultural
policy maker at the Danish Arts Council, Ministry of Culture for about three
years, and I still teach at different universities in Europe in social design,
information aesthetics and documentary film theory. I am also the Managing
Director of the Art Consultancy Unit artconsultancy.info. Regardless of all
that I never stopped my documentary film production.
When it comes to my
personal activities, I like to use the term “artivism” - a combination of art,
archiving and activism - as the driving force in what I do. Artivism is so when
I apply the usage of information in an aesthetical way but not necessarily for
aesthetical reasons simply. And since information is the basic ingredient in
what I do as an artivist, I suppose it is difficult to squeeze most of my
practices and processes under the category of art and aesthetics.
In an interview for
IBRAAZ my dear friend, artist Ursula Biemann refers to me as a reformative,
professional image maker. I guess it is because I often experiment with new
designations to find much larger physical and theoretical spaces that will
allow me to include the informative experience and strengthen its social
application.
I consider both my
theoretical and my physical productions to be of reformative nature. It is so
because I often re-examine and restructure the very medium I work with. I
cancel the medium's functions and try to expand it in order to make a new
system out of it, so it may end looking like a film or a documentary while in
reality it is something else, or about something else. This something else can
include or be the very content, the information deposited in the production but
also the motivation behind a work.
3) What
happened to the politician Hamdeen Sabahy after the revolution?
Hamdeen Sabahy was one
of the 10 presidential candidates in Egypt. He got about 4 million votes and
came in third, so he didn’t make it to the second round.
The man was forcibly
ousted from parliament when the Mubarak regime falsified the result of the
election in October 2010. Sabahy and other opposition activists took to the
streets to protest and slowly the people started supporting the opposition and
protesting against the parliamentary election, other socio-economic issues, and
government brutality. All this led to the January uprising across Egypt and
Hamdeen Sabahy was always in the street protesting, as he has been since he was
18 when he confronted former President Sadat.
I met him two weeks ago
at his home and he told me that he is not accepting any political post in the
coming government, no matter its formation. I understand him. He is exhausted
after a long and effective period of participation in the uprising with his
family and supporters. He decided to take a contemplating position but remain
on alert and in opposition to any surprises may accrue in Egypt.
4) Do you
have other future plans for Egypt?
Indeed, I am in Cairo
now working on two different documentaries, yet again linking the particular
and personal to the political.
The Arab Marine is a
documentary about Al Husseini who grew up in Egypt as a Palestinian. He is the
grandson of Hajj Amin Al Husseini, the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. Al
Husseini moved to the USA and volunteered in the Army to obtain American
citizenship. He served in Iraq for six years. Then he went back to Cairo to
find himself protesting against the Mubarak regime using his music and art as a
symbol of protest.
The documentary is about
a person who made the most important decision in his life to notice later how
that decision was not private or personal, but a decision with national,
regional and international consequences.
Being an Arab first and
an American second means that one belongs to two different national groups, or
two conflicting environments, simultaneously. This multiple positioning makes
Al Husseini a volume case to be addressed in an informative documentary format,
showing the processes and stages of Karim Al Husseini’s life.
The second documentary
is about the oldest café in the Arab world, Café Fishawy. Fahmi Ali El Fishawy
began serving coffee to his friends in an alley of Cairo's Khan al‐Khalili district each evening after the prayers at Al
Hussain Mosque. He gradually added mint tea and anise tea to his informal menu,
as well as water pipes, and El Fishawy Cafe was a reality. With time, the
gatherings have grown larger and famous Egyptian writers, painters, musicians
and intellectuals have made the place theirs. I am focusing on Najib Mafouz’s
room at the café and the café’s role and impact on Egyptian culture, politics,
film industry and the neighboring urban setting.
We are done with the
filming of both projects and now to the rigid part, the postproduction.
Khaled Ramadan
Cairo, summer 2012
Interview
by Reem
Samarani
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