We’re all familiar with the term “indie film, but what grants a film its independent status? Is it the slightly gritty texture, it’s lack of adequate funding, or its general amateurish aura that lingers like the smell of Saturday night’s curry that your house mate left on the kitchen table?
Perhaps it’s none of these slightly dubious requisites that make an independent film stand out from its corporate counterpart. According to British Director Daniel Mulloy, independent films can only merit a place in that genre if its makers, as opposed to its sponsors, have complete directorial freedom over the production process.
Mulloy was one of two British independent filmmakers who arrived in Cairo last Friday to present a selection of films as part of the British Council’s second Independent Film Festival. Britain, the reigning queen of independent filmmaking, is the guest of honor at this year s Cairo International Film Festival.
Martin Pickles – an old Oxfordian who is fascinated with silent film whiz Georges Melies – and Daniel Mulloy, a Slade school graduate who switched from the canvas to the silver screen, conveyed through their work just how Janus-faced British film can be.
While Pickles’ art sits comfortably in the common cinematic arena, Mulloy’s deal is more concerned with the uncomfortable moments of modern life. While Pickles’ inspiration comes through self-reflection and the history of cinema, Mulloy drives straight into the here and now.
Despite both artists’ innovation and vision, it was Mulloy’s hard-hitting mini-dramas that had the biggest impact on the audience. With 16 awards to date, Mulloy exploits the intricacies of familial relationships.
“Antonio’s Breakfast is set in a London flat and portrays a poignant relationship between Antonio and his father, who is bound to a wheelchair and a respirator. Meanwhile, racial stereotypes are twisted and thrown back on the screen.
“Sister, understated and set on a school bus in South Wales, depicts the relationship between a boy and his annoying little sister. In both films, Mulloy dissects life with the timing and precision of a surgeon, grafting significance on the most mundane events.
Pickles’ poetic works were more esoteric, often delving into the intellectual history of cinema to reflect on the filmmaking process. Recently, however, he has tried his hand at animation and has even experimented (quite successfully) with scriptwriting a short film entitled “Like Me, Only Better. The film explores Catholicism and Neurosis with typical British self-deprecating humor.
“Like Me, Only Better proved to be a hit with audiences, but it was “Century’s End that left me inspired, a beautifully crafted and simply shot film of the Millennium festivities in London’s Trafalgar Square. Shot in black and white at 16 fps, Pickles summons the monotony of urban life without relinquishing the immediacy of the moment.
Although it was British films that took pride of place in the first portion of the evening, the second half featured four independent Egyptian films, each broaching equally daring topics. The evening was punctuated by a short documentary to raise awareness about the Right to Live association – a charity foundation aiding disabled children to lead normal lives and express themselves through art. The latter course began with a documentary on Female Genital Mutilation.
The short documentary was followed by Sherif Nakhla’s “Miraculum, a controversial film which uses a failed abortion attempt to explore the troubled Christian-Muslim relations in Egypt. Had Nakhla spent as much effort on experimentation with dynamic lighting and innovative shots as he had with attempts to create a controversial script, this film might have been a little more compelling. As it was, I found it rather trite, forced and non-engaging.
Ayman El-Amir’s choice of content, however, was stirring without being sensationalist. “Sweetie’s Hanky is the day in the life of a divorced father and penniless economics teacher whose estranged daughter and ex-wife are due to leave for the Gulf that afternoon. The anti-hero, the nameless layman of Egypt, must supervise a critical exam before he can take the train back to see his daughter for the last time.
In the featureless pressure-cooker of a classroom, the father descends into mild insanity as he becomes captivated by a student who bears a striking resemblance to his daughter. This tragic-comic film is subtle, slightly absurd and almost reminiscent of the underground surrealist Egyptian literature of the 1950s, where the tortured protagonist often buckles under life’s pressures and sinks into semi-lunacy.
Bearing in mind the societal and financial challenges facing Egypt’s independent cinema, these directors should be extolled merely for their attempts. However, even “Sweetie’s Hanky in some areas fell short of cinematic fluency. Some scenes were too long and it would have served better to spend more time and money on experimenting with different perspectives and shooting angles.
Despite these shortcomings, all who attended the festival would agree it was an evening well spent; and for those aspiring Egyptian moviemakers, it was an opportunity to be inspired.
