Black Out will be screened in the festival "Cinéma et Révolutions en Egypte" or Cinema and revolutions in Egypt in the French city Lyon on April 27th, 2012 at 8 p.m.
10 years ago
0
Girls' Talk in Regent Park Film Festival
Girls' Talk was screened in Regent Park Film Festival in Toronto, Canada in November 2011. The great thing was that was the first time for me to get some money from screening any of my work. I got a check of $50 and I've decided to keep it as a souvenir of the 1st amount of money I've ever made from filmmaking :)
Posted by
May Z
Black Out's screening in MADATAC festival
Black Out was screened in MADATAC festival in Madrid in Spain under the name "APAGÓN" in "MNCARS" Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía on December 13th, 2011.
Posted by
May Z
Girls' Talk in Arcus Temporum VIII
"Girls' Talk" will be screened in Arcus Temporum VIII; art festival of Pannonhalma in Hungary in August 26-28, 2011. It will be screened with other 4 short Egyptian films as a part of a special program this year called "Images from Egypt" which is dedicated only to Egyptian independent short films.
Posted by
May Z
Black Out & The Lady Bug in Festival Miden in Greece in July 2011
My short films "Black Out" and "The Lady Bug" will be screened in Festival Miden in Greece in 7-9 July 2011. Festival Miden is the first Greek video art festival presented in open public spaces. It is is an annual video art & new media cultural event held in Kalamata in Greece. "The Lady Bug" will be screened on July 7th in the screening program "A last instruction to the grass" while "Black Out" will be screened on July 9th in the screening program "This is war".
You can check the full program in the following link:
Posted by
May Z
Spotlight On Me
ReelShowInt MAG which is a website dedicated to film students and film lovers in general asked me to write an article about my experience in making "Girls' Talk" and in film industry in Egypt because my film was the editor's choice for May. I tried to write what happened during the time when I first had the idea and when the film was done. I also wrote what I feel in general about filmmaking in Egypt. Some may not agree with me but this is how I feel right now :)
Here is what I wrote...
'‘I never really thought that anybody would watch this film while I was making it. It was just an exercise in the independent filmmaking workshop I was attending in the Jesuits Cultural Centerin Alexandria. We were 8 participants in that workshop where each week two of us had to write, shoot and edit two short films only within that week. The rest of the 8 participants were divided to work as a crew for the two films and each week we just switch roles. Other rules were that the films including mine had to be shot in one day and only inside the Jesuits Cultural Center so I really had to come up with an idea that fits these rules.
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 or judging each other.It’s something that might seem old fashioned to some people but we actually do it every day through the internet. I tried to choose two totally different girls who might not get to know each other in normal circumstances.
The film’s budget was theoretically about L.E 3000 which is about $500 but since it was made during the workshop and I had to shoot it inside the building so I didn’t pay anything for renting the place or the Sony Z1 camera or the lighting equipments that i used none of later as the film was shot only with the available light. I did all the editing with “Houda El Soghiar” in Final Cut Pro program in my laptop so I didn’t pay for it either. No one in the cast or the crew was paid as well. 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 aboutL.E 100 which is around $20.
Film industry in Egypt is almost the same like anywhere else. You have relatively big budget commercial films and few artistic independent films. Although Alexandria is a city of around 5 million inhabitants the filmmaking or artistic community is relatively small. Though it might seem like a negative point but I think it’s good in a way that you almost know everybody and it happens a lot that you find several projects being made at the same time where for example I might be the editor in one, the DP in another and making my own film as well.
Of course in all or most of the projects you work for free because everybody is working with almost zero budget. There is no place there to teach filmmaking professionally, all of them exist in Cairo so I or any other Alexandrian filmmaker face the pressure of having to move to Cairo at somepoint to have better connections and better chances.
Maybe it’s the least field in Egypt that people care if you are a woman or a man.. but still there are some people who don’t take you seriously at the beginning. I don’t think gender is a problem but maybe being different is.. because some people in the industry just pressure you to dress or talk or even believe like them to accept you as a filmmaker which is something I totally disagree with and I think if somebody doesn’t accept me the way I am then it’s his or her problem not mine.'
Mayye Zayed
June, 2011
Posted by
May Z
Girls' Talk is the Editor's Choice for May 2011
My film "Girls' Talk"has been selected for the editor's choice in ReelshowInt MAG for May 2011.
Posted by
May Z
The Lady Bug Film Review By Felix Vasquez Jr.
An experimental animation short in its truest form, "The Ladybug" is a cute short film with great seamless animation and a simplistic story to get the point across about the slick ladybug and the way she handles her seemingly life changing ordeal.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
3/13/11
For the article please check the following Link:
Posted by
May Z
"Girls' Talk" & "The Lady Bug" in "7ème rencontres de l'image"
Both of my films "Girls' Talk" or "Conversation de filles" and "The Lady Bug" or "La Coccinelle" will be screened in the 7th edition of "Les Rencontres de l’image" film festival in CFCC; the French Cultural Center in Cairo, Egypt. "The Lady Bug" will be screened in the opening day on April 13th, 2011 and "Girls' Talk" on April 17th, 2011 and at 6 p.m.
For full details please check the following link:
Adress:
The French Cultural Center
Madrasset el Huquq el Frinseya St., Mounira
Cairo
Egypt
Tel: +20 (2) 27 91 58 00
Posted by
May Z
Girls' Talk Film Review By Mai Ayyad
Girls' Talk: Finding Vent, Wherever it May Be
There are very rare moments, in which the self can find its release, can strip itself of all its pretences and speak its inner thoughts.
This happens in Mayye Zayed’s short film Girls’ Talk in the most strange of places. Set entirely in a girls’ school bathroom, the film shows the distant, yet very deep friendship that springs unconventionally between two teenage girls.
The rebellious girls do not adhere to the strict note that states, ‘Writing on the bathroom door is uncivilised behaviour.’ Instead, the bathroom door becomes their costumed Facebook wall.
One time, a girl writes a random thought and returns the next day to find that another girl has replied to her. She replies back and they continue corresponding for a long time, without ever discovering each other’s identity.
The way of communication, weird as it may be, gives room for the girls to express themselves freely. As they start to develop a sense of attachment, their thoughts become more and more intimate. They wait for the answer that feels like salvation to them.
Girls' Talk is such a beautiful and delicate film. The plotline is smart and realistic, the need to talk and relate to someone cannot always be fulfilled in regular relationships. When talking anonymously, embarrassment does not exist; you are saving face and finding relief.
The scenes, shots and lighting create a very lively image that instantly captivates the audience, and the story has a strong sense of familiarity to it. The film’s details are very abundant, ranging from the girls’ clothes and pencil cases that they take to the bathroom, to the numerous witty comments scribbled on the door.
Renaud Pijselman’s music is absolutely captivating and an excellent choice; certainly one of the most remarkable features of the film. It goes very well with the story, and keeps resonating in the viewers mind.
Girls’ Talk is produced by the Jesuit Cultural Centre as part of an independent filmmaking workshop, so one can assume that it is nearly a no-budget film. Naturally, it has some setbacks in sound and quality, but the end result remedies all that.
Mai Ayyad
Cairo360
For the article please check the following link:
Posted by
May Z
DOX BOX 2011
DOX BOX is the first Independent International Documentary Film Festival in Syria. I was lucky enough to be part of its 4th edition that took place between the 1st and 10th of March in Damascus. I had some training sessions with Arab & international industry professionals such as established & experienced producers, filmmakers, distributers, festivals' representatives and TV commissioning editors among others. It was really great to meet people from Sundance, Rotterdam, Abu Dhabi Film Festivals, European Documentary Network (EDN), Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) and many others. Also I've met some great filmmakers who became very dear friends to me and to watch some great documentary films during the festival I could not have watched else where beside of course discovering the beauty of the city Damascus :)
Posted by
May Z
Girls' Talk in LES Film Festival in NYC
My short fiction film "Girls' Talk" is now being screened in "LES film festival" in for independent films with budget under $30,000 in NYC in USA. It was screened in the opening night on February 8th and will be screened again in the nternational night on February 23rd :) Here is the festival's film schedule.
The film's budget was theoretically about L.E 3000 which is about $500 but since it was made during the filmmaking workshop in Jesuits Cultural Center that I attended, 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 :)
Posted by
May Z
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
