Best Of Berlin

NDTV Lumiere | Movies | February 6, 2009 at 5:01 am

The Yacoubian Building on NDTV Lumiere at 10 pm on 10th February

NDTV Lumière presents The Best of Berlin – showcasing films that truly represent the avante-garde spirit of Berlinale. On Festival Flix At 10 pm, every Tuesday and Wednesday, all month long in February.

This is Marwan Hamed’s second movie as a director. Concerning, The Yacoubian Building he says: “The film is different from the type of films available in the market. The dramatic script is strong and coherent versus 99% of the films made during the last ten years; most of them are dramatically flawed. It is a work that discusses with all boldness and neutrality all the cases existing in the society and a lot of people are afraid to come near it. The film is considered to be a dissection of Egyptian society for 50 years in other terms since the Yacoubian Building was constructed”.

Marwan thinks that the boldness and courage displayed by the novel is the reason that big stars agreed to participate in the film. This encouraged Good News Group to produce this film and to bring in a huge number of stars.

He confirms, “Working with big stars had me worried and afraid, in the beginning, of dealing with them. I have since discovered that, due to their long history, they have a high level of professionalism and respect their work very much; in fact, I have learned a lot from them. It was not difficult to deal with them; they went out of their ways to remove my fears from the very first day. ”

Marwan adds, “I have not concentrated on any of the points of view that are expressed around me about the film and the workers in it. The responsibility is very big. I have to respect my work and do not pay attention to what has been said to prove that I am up to the responsibility.
Though I was very worried during the whole period of shooting, I find this natural in any line of work. However, in this case we were working with the largest budget for a film in Egyptian cinema – exceeding 20 million Egyptian pounds – a huge number of stars, and a novel that caused quite a stir. The novel is very frank in discussing social and political values. This is why there was suspicion about the work while shooting and we know pretty well that the film will attract controversy and we will be attacked and lawsuits will be filed against us. I think all these will benefit the movie and not harm it. ”

yacoubian10 About the most difficult scene that he came across, Marwan says, “The scenes of manifestation in the university were very difficult, due to the huge number of groups and to control them was very difficult. Also, the scenes of external shooting, especially with the two stars Adel Imam and Nour El Sherif were difficult, and these exceeded 23 days. The gathering of the public just to see these stars was terrifying! I think the most difficult personality was Hatem Rashid, played by Khaled El Sawy. It is a worrying personality, not a common one and new on Egyptian screens. There was a lot of interest related to the depiction of this personality. ”
On dealing with a large number of stars, Marwan says: “They are stars because they know the responsibility of every person in the unit pretty well. I have enjoyed working with them all. About Adel Imam, before working with him I had heard myths concerning his demands and conditions in shooting and his interference in everything. However, I think there is no actor as pleasant to work with as Adel Imam. He loves his work very much, likes the unit, and leaves himself totally in the director’s hands. I have been stunned with every moment of work with Mr. Adel Imam. Though I was terrified the first day of shooting, especially with him, afterwards, I have woken up early and happy because I was going to shoot with him. Though he is unquestionably the number one star in the Arab world, he sits during the break time with the work team to eat and say anecdotes. He never sits in his room alone. Sometimes, he sits on a chair alone beside the studio to study his role like any novice actor. We never felt that we were dealing with a star except during the external shooting sequences where the public surrounded him.
As for Nour El Sherif, he is not very different from Adel Imam. He is a professional actor, always surprising you with his performance and capacity for characterization. He is a simple person and very humble with the unit. He is very cultivated. Though he himself is a director and knows the technicalities and has a background of great cinema, he never interfered with my work, which I must confess I was worried about initially.

yacoubian As for the beautiful star Youssra, she is a glamorous actress; and when you see her through the camera, you realize that the camera adores her. I have enjoyed working with her very much.”

Marwan adds, “Though Hend Sabry is Tunisian, she has performed the role of the Egyptian girl with high professionalism. She surprised me during the shooting with her talent and grace. She acts with every fibre of her being. Mohamed Imam was a surprise for me in the film; he is always ready to put in greater effort. He is the one who has suffered most in the film; his role comprises a lot of action sequences. But his performance improved amazingly in the course of the shooting.”
Marwan confirms, “Khaled El Sawy is the most daring actor, I have ever seen. He agreed to perform a very difficult role and performed it with great intelligence and with a high degree of realism. As for the marvellous Khaled Saleh, we have sat together a lot and have talked about the role, form, style and method. During shooting, I was surprised to find a totally different personality from the Khaled Saleh that I know. All his scenes with Nour El Sherif are fantastic.

blogged by Shamath Mazumdar, NDTV Lumière