Basra
From :Mostra Jornal
Egyptian Ahmed Rashwan, of Basra, and Latvian Maris Martinsons, of Loss, present their feature films at the 32nd International Film Festival. Both directors talked about their films at Clube da Mostra, mediated by Journalist Maria Ângela de Jesus.
Ahmed Rashwan graduated in Film Direction and Production at the Cairo Cinema Institute. He made shorts and documentaries and worked as an assistant to some of the best known directors of Egypt. He also writes film critics for newspapers and magazines in the Arabian world and in England. The idea for the plot of Basra first came to be in 2003 due to Ahmed’s curiosity about what the Egyptian young generation thought about the war in Iraq and its effect in their lives. The background for the film comes from the events in the city of Basra, the beginning of the war and its effect on a romantic story of social realism. The first version of the script participated in a script contest in Alexandria and got the second prize. Ahmed then looked for a producer for the film, but as the theme and its approach was far from the commercial appeal when compared to most of the films made In Egypt, no one wanted to buy his idea. By producing documentaries, the director began to save money and, in 2007, decided to produce his film all by himself. He started shooting in October 2007 and finished by January 2008. When he began editing, many of his crew still had not received their payment. The leading actor in the film, who is a famous actor in Egypt, had agreed to start acting and receive just 10% of his pay at the beginning. Ahmed, however, had to wait for him to end a shooting in another film so that he could have his moustache shaved off and only then start acting in Basra. The director was only able to pay the whole crew when the film was launched.
The word Basra has a double meaning – it is both the name of the city that happens to be the background for the story and a card game, well known in the Arabian world, where two players hold the same card. For Ahmed, it is a metaphor of the various kinds of current political combinations.
Maris Martinsons was born in Latvia, and then moved to Lithuania where he started a company that produces TV programs. Three years ago, he and his partner began to think about producing feature films. Their first film was Anastasia, a film for TV made up under their own expenses. According to Maris, the annual grant given by the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture is equivalent to two million Euros and it is not enough for all the films. Next, they produced Loss, which was a nice box office hit in Lithuanian film theaters and was awarded best director and best music at the 11° Shanghai International Film Festival. It also got nominated best foreign film at the 2009 Oscar so Maris is in campaign in the United States for the members of the Academy to see his film.
The Lithuanian original name Loss, means unnecessary people. The film tells the story of a young Lithuanian woman who travels to Ireland convinced that she will solve all of her problems by making money out there. Her life is interwoven with that of five other “socially unnecessary” characters who are also trying to find a way out for their own lives. According to Maris, some 200,000 Lithuanians have already migrated to Ireland. That is a problem that has affected the population of that three million inhabitants’ country.
A provocation – Maris made his film with handheld camera to be closer to the “common man”. He ended up making a film different from those normally made in Lithuania, very static, theatrical and slow. When Loss was first shown there, many viewers were shocked.
Both Ahmed and Maris said that the space festivals give to the exhibition of alternative films helps directors and producers to find interested distributors. And besides, the common audience also has a chance to check cinematographies that would not otherwise get a chance to be seen and appreciated.
posted by Mansour @ 12:51 PM
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