Tamer Ezzat is an Egyptian filmmaker who started his career in 1994 as an editor for renowned Egyptian directors such as Yousef Chahine on ‘Silence …We’re Rolling’ and Yousry Nasrallah’s ‘On Boys, Girls & the Veil, the City’. He went on to study directing and special effects at New York University and the New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2002, Ezzat returned to Cairo to start directing/producing award-winning documentaries including ‘Everything Is Gonna Be Alright!’ and ‘The Place I Call Home’. His fiction feature debut ‘The Ring Road’, which he wrote and directed, premiered at the Cairo International Film Festival in 2010. His latest film ‘Tahrir 2011’ is a co-directed feature documentary about the Egyptian revolution. It has been selected so far to screen at film festivals in Venice, Toronto, Abu Dhabi and Amsterdam. Ezzat received a film grant from DFI, for “When We Are Born.”

A clip from the film ‘The Ring Road’:

DFI: Congratulations on your DFI grant for your feature narrative ‘When We Are Born’ Can you tell us more about it?
Tamer: The idea of this film emerged from the documentary ‘The Place I Call Home’ in 2006. It was a documentary about belonging and immigration. After screening the film in different venues around the world and listening to feedback, I started to slowly realise that no matter where we come from or what we believe in, we are only searching for happiness. This search starts the very day we are born and we only struggle in life when our dreams conflict with the labels that we are given at birth such as gender, country and religion. It’s a pure dramatic conflict and whether we realise our dreams or not is going to make the story of our life. That’s how we came to the idea of this film that is partly inspired by the lives of real people from ‘The Place I Call Home’.

Watch an excerpt from the film ‘The Place I Call Home’.

DFI: ‘The Place I Call Home’ was also officially selected in more than 13 festivals and received 4 awards. Can you tell us more about it?
Tamer: After completing my last project, a documentary called ‘Everything is Gonna Be Alright!’ about Arabs in New York after 9-11, I received many e-mails from people who watched it and identified with it as Arab immigrants. I was taken by an e-mail I received from a woman who attended the screening of my film in Cairo. She was very distressed and told me her story. She is married and has a 4-year old son called Yousef. They had planned to immigrate to Canada as soon as the paperwork was done. Like any mother, she had worries about her son growing up away from Egypt. But most importantly she was worried her son would struggle with identity crisis. She identified with a boy in my film called Yousef as well. This boy, who was 9, became insomniac after 9-11, had nightmares and was unable to sleep properly. One day he came to his parents and exploded a bombshell to them. He wanted to change his name and religion. He felt that Americans didn’t like Arabs because of what they watch on TV. This woman wrote to me in order to tell me how she is having second thoughts about leaving, despite their complete detachment as a family from their own community in Egypt, culturally and emotionally.

At first I got alarmed. I didn’t want my film to have such an influence on people. What the film is aiming for is rather a better understanding and acceptance between different cultures. After a while I started to think of my life and the people around me, and found out that immigration has been part of my own story in one way or another for a very long time. I had an uncle and a couple of cousins who left to different countries; most of my schoolmates immigrated or are thinking about it. I went online and joined different chat rooms and discovered that immigration was on the top list of discussions. I then decided to make a film about immigration, looking for the reasons that force you to leave your own country. What is it that people look for in other places and what exactly is the place that people call ‘home’?

DFI: How do you see the future of Egyptian cinema after the revolution?
Tamer: The industry is now at a standstill and filmmakers are taking their time trying to absorb what happened. They want to study its impact on people while searching for a message to portray. I am sure the future of Egyptian cinema will carry some seeds of hope. There might be a chance for more serious films but eventually commercial films will not be affected.

Watch an excerpt from the film ‘Tahrir 2011’.

DFI: What is Arab cinema lacking to take part in the international scene?
Tamer: It’s a combination of factors; Arab cinema can be self-absorbed at times and that makes it difficult for an international audience to understand. It is a very delicate mix: how can you make films about your life in a way that is both truthful and universal at the same time? So this is a scriptwriting challenge. I also think that being an Arabic speaker is in itself an obstacle as English is the universal language and subtitles are not very popular around the world the way it is in our countries. This is another challenge that has to do with audience’s habits and distribution, which doesn’t allow local cinemas to venture and screen films from overseas. What Arab cinema is also suffering from are international pre-conceptions about Islam. This is serious because it limits the selection of Arab films that can reach the international platform. There is a tendency to summarise the Arab world with topics like Palestine, women’s issues and terrorism. And this only serves to strengthen stereotypes. It’s a vicious cycle.

DFI: You studied Physics and Electronics then moved to cinema. What led you to this shift in careers?
Tamer: I always had a passion for arts in general since high school; and in college I practiced music, singing, acting and photography. I can’t forget in 1989 the effect of watching a film by Stanley Kubrick called ‘Full Metal Jacket’. I remember thinking how the script and the directing totally manipulated me as a spectator, in a good way of course. After that, I knew then that making films is what I want to pursue in my life.

DFI: You career path varies from acting, editing, producing and directing. What is it that you want to focus on?
Tamer: My focus was always on becoming a director. And for that reason I thought I should wear as many hats in this industry as possible, in order to be well-rounded. As a film director, knowing about the other aspects of the process helps a lot in thinking and communicating with others. I am sure my experience as an actor helped a lot in dealing with actors. Besides, as an independent filmmaker, I always work under tight budgets and it helps if you know how to do different things.

DFI: You’ve edited works of renowned directors like Youssef Chahine and Yousry Nasrallah, how do you describe this experience?
Tamer: Editing in general is like a film school. Working with such great directors closely for years and being around them and watching how they think and operate taught me a lot; not only in editing but in all aspects of filmmaking in general such as directing, scriptwriting, directing actors…

DFI: What film/filmmaker inspired you the most and why?
Tamer: There’s many! It depends on the different phases of my life. It could be people I worked with as an editor or films I’ve watched. But in general, I was inspired by Stanley Kubrick and Yousef Chahine, and by the directing style of Yousry Nasrallah, Paul Greengrass and Wong Kar-wai. They are very different but I find them all inspiring in their own special way.

DFI: What is your message to filmmakers in the beginning of their career?
Tamer: My message is simple: don’t be discouraged and overwhelmed by the complications of having a film produced. Filmmaking is at a very good place right now. The tools are more available than ever. If you have an idea, don’t waste years looking for a producer…just grab a camera, any camera, and start making films!