Double Feature: 2 or 3 things I don’t know about her + From Cairo

2 or 3 things I don’t know about her
Sabrina Idiri Chemloul, Qatar/ France, 2022, 22 min. Arabic and French with English subtitles, DCP

Lila (Emma Boulanouar) is an 18-year-old teenager living in Brest, France. She recently decided to wear a hijab, to the dismay of her family. After an argument with her boyfriend, Lila does not feel like celebrating Eid at home and decides to slip away.

From Cairo
Hala Galal, Egypt 2021, 65 min. Arabic with English subtitles, DCP

In the streets of Cairo, documentary filmmaker Hala Galal moves purposefully and quickly. She looks brave but is in constant fear of being harassed just for being a single working woman. Her story is intimately linked to those of Heba and Aya, as the three women challenge the norms and limitations of what it means to be a woman in contemporary Egypt. Photojournalist Heba tries to find space in her life as a single mother by conceiving art that focuses on the female body. As with Aya, she tries to find a foothold in her relationship with family, religion and her passion for roller derby, which takes up increasing space in her life and pushes her to rethink her position as a woman. All three women share a desire to create space for more voices in contemporary Egypt.

 

 

Hala Galal is an Egyptian filmmaker. She is the founder and executive director of SEMAT Production & Distribution which supports alternative and independent Cinema in Egypt. SEMAT is a cultural hub linked to civil society organisations involved in the creative sector and youth as well as women’s organisations in Egypt / the Arab Region.