Original Title: Kalam Banat - كلام بنات
English Title: Girls' Talk
French Title: Conversation de filles
Log line:
Friendship can find its way in the weirdest places...
Plot Description:
Two teenage girls who are completely strangers communicate on the door of a bathroom stall in their high school.
Synopsis:
Friendship can find its way in the weirdest places... when two teenage girls who are completely strangers communicate on the door of a bathroom stall in their high school.
Cast:
Radwa
Dalia Samir
Crew:
Director: Mayye Zayed
DOP: Ahmed Magdy
Editor: Mayye Zayed - Houda El Soghiar
Screenwriter: Mayye Zayed - Hend Bakr
Composer: Renaud Pijselman
Producer: Jesuits Cultural Center in Alexandria
Genre: Fiction
Duration: 4'10" (4 mins 10 secs)
Format: HD
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Language: Arabic
Subtitles: English
Country: Egypt
Year: 2010
About:
This film was made during the 4th independent filmmaking workshop in Jesuits Cultural Center in 2010 in Alexandria. It was shot in 1 day using Sony Z1 camera and edited using Final Cut Pro.
The film's budget was theoretically about L.E 3000 which is about $500 but since it was made during the workshop, I had to shoot it inside the building so I didn't pay anything for renting the place or the camera or the light equipment that i used none of. I did all the editing with "Mahmoud El Soghiar" in my laptop so I didn't pay for it either. The only thing I had to pay for was the ties and one blue shirt for "Radwa" and I borrowed the other one for "Dalia Samir" from my dad 
I had also to pay only for a hard paper to paint it and stick it on the door and write on it, so the total actual budget was about L.E 100 which is around $20
I had also to pay only for a hard paper to paint it and stick it on the door and write on it, so the total actual budget was about L.E 100 which is around $20
Film Still Shots:
Please click on each image for full resolution.
Previous Screenings:
Nov. 2010 - Jesuits Cultural Center in Alexandria, Egypt
Nov. 2010 - ZINC in Friche la Belle de Mai in Marseille, France
Dec. 2010 - Badrakhan Bookshop & Cine Club in Cairo, Egypt
Feb. 2011 - LES Film Festival in NYC, USA (Official Selection)
Mar. 2011 - Alhambra Cinema in Marseille, France
Mar. 2011 - Women's Voices Now Film Festival in LA, USA (Finalist)
Apr. 2011 - 7ème rencontres de l'image Film Festival in the French Cultural Center CFCC in Cairo, Egypt
Apr. 2011 - 2nd annual West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival in WV, USA
Aug. 2011 - Arcus Temporum VIII Art Festival of Pannonhalma, Hungary
Nov. 2011 - 9th Regent Park Film Festival in Toronto, Canada
Dec. 2011 - 6th Streaming Festival
Film Review:
Director's Note:
I was in the ladies room in the American University of Cairo (AUC) when I noticed that there were some writings on the bathroom stall's door. There were many topics being discussed between the girls in politics, religion, love and everything. Writing on doors of public toilets is very common in Egypt especially in high schools but it was the first time for me to see such thing in an upper class prestigious university like the AUC so I realized that the need of expressing your self and communicating with other people has nothing to do with your social background. From that day I began to think of “Girls' Talk” and how two random totally strangers can communicate with one another without knowing or seeing each other. It's something that might seem old fashioned to some people but we actually do it everyday through the internet.
Director's Biography:
Mayye Zayed is an independent filmmaker and a video artist from Alexandria, Egypt. She studied Communications & Electronics Engineering and graduated from Alexandria University in 2008. Then she attended many filmmaking workshops for fiction, documentary and animated films. She also attended the one year independent filmmaking workshop held at Jesuits Cultural Centre in Alexandria in 2009/2010. She was part of the crew of "Hawi" feature length film for the Egyptian filmmaker "Ibrahim El Batout" in 2010. She had a one month artist residency by ZINC in Marseille, France in 2010. She works now as a freelance videographer and editor.
