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Hawi (Hawi)

Arab Film Competition - Doha Tribecca Film Festival 2010

Synopsis

Shot in Alexandria using non-professional actors and an unpaid crew, Ibrahim El Batout's third feature continues the Egyptian filmmaker's obsession in contemplating the details of daily Egyptian life. Inspired by the alternative cinema of Goddard, Vertov and Kiarostami, the story follows the journey of Youssef, a prisoner released after five years of solitary confinement in order to fetch a sheath of important documents, with a number of seemingly unconnected subplots, concerning a group of aspiring songwriters, a satellite TV executive searching for a show host, an elderly juggler leading his sickly old horse though the city streets, and so on. As a result, what might have been a straight-ahead story with predictable scenes, becomes an organic study of a city populated by disparate, often desperate, characters, a closer view of so-called reality and the lives of everyday people.

Official Film Website

About the Director

Ibrahim El Batout
El Batout was born in Port-Said, Egypt and graduated from the American University in Cairo, majoring in physics. Since 1987, he has worked as a director, producer and cameraman, debuting as a feature film director with 2005's "Ithaki." His second film, "Eye of the Sun," won the Golden Bull at the 2008 Taormina Film Festival.

Credits

Director

Ibrahim El Batout

Screenwriter

Ibrahim El Batout

Producer

Ibrahim El Batout

Editor

Perry Mo'ataz

Director of Photography

Ibrahim El Batout

Production Designer

Emad Mabrouk

Composer

Massar Egbary Band

Cast

Hanan Youssef, Sherif El Dessouki, Mohamed El Sayed, Fady Iskandar, Rina Aref, Massar Egbary Band

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