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Spring Grants 2019 - Development Stage

Mohammad Shawky Hassan / Feature Experimental or Essay / Egypt, Germany, Lebanon, Qatar / 75 min / Original Language: Arabic / Interests: Women, Politics, History, Social Issues, Based on a True Story, Docufiction

Synopsis

An episode of a radio show revisiting the life of an Arab music icon takes an unexpected turn when one of the callers refers to an “adult film” that she has allegedly starred in thirty years ago. While some claim to have seen the film, popularly known as “El Kotchina”, providing detailed descriptions of some of its scenes, others strongly believe that it was entirely constructed in the collective imagination of the Egyptian public through networks of rumour, gossip and hearsay. The subsequent conversations about the alleged film and the research journey they prompted reveal the complex political, social and cultural fabric that has shaped an entire society’s notions of sexuality, masculinity and censorship.

Credits

Director
Mohammad Shawky Hassan
Screenwriter
Nadine Khan, Mohammad Shawky Hassan
Producer
Maximilian Haslberger

About the Director

Mohammad Shawky Hassan is a filmmaker living and working in Cairo, Egypt. He studied philosophy, film directing and cinema studies at the American University in Cairo and Columbia University. His films include "It Was Related to Me", "On a Day like Today" and "And on a Different Note", which premiered at the Berlinale Forum Expanded, and was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). A recipient of the Fulbright Fine & Applied Arts Grant and Open Society's Civil Society Leadership Award, his work has been supported by AFAC, Fonds Sud Cinema, YATF, and Al Mawred among others.

Contacts

  • Main Contact

    Mohammad Shawky Hassan

    Phone: 
    +49 30 64449826
    Email: 
    info@amerikafilm.de

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