Award-winning Saudi Arabian film Barakah Yoqabil Barakah (Barakah Meets Barakah) was screened on Friday 18 November at the Cairo Opera House as part of the ongoing Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), followed by a Q&A discussion with the filmmaker Mahmoud Sabbagh. The film is competing in the Prospects of Arab Cinema (PAC), an independent programme and competition for long feature films held during CIFF and organised by the Egyptian Filmmakers Syndicate (EFMS). Barakah Meets Barakah is Sabbagh's debut film, which deals with the difficulties encountered by young boys and girls in a country that prohibits mixed-gender gatherings. The film stars Fatima Al-Banawi, Hisham Fageeh, Sami Hifny, Abdulmajeed Alruhaidi and Khairia Nazmi. Despite the decision by Saudi authorities to prevent the film from screening in Saudi Arabia, an independent Jeddah-based committee selected the film to represent their country at the Best Foreign-Language Film competition at the 2017 Academy Awards. In a recent interview with Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm, Sabbagh stressed that the nomination was made by a committee that operates under the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts, which is independent from Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Culture. According to Al-Ahram Arabic news website, Sabbagh commented on the film's nomination as well as its participation in multiple film festivals during Friday's discussion, saying that his most cherished recognition would have been for the film to screen in his home country. Barakah Meets Barakah tells the story of “two lovers who are united in an environment hostile to dating of any kind. He is Barakah, the municipal civil servant from Jeddah, who is also an amateur actor in a theatrical troupe. She is Barakah, a wild beauty, who functions as a crowd-puller for her stylish mother's boutique and runs her own widely-seen vlog... They both defy customs and traditions, as well as the religious police, using modern communication technologies and traditional dating methods," reads a press release by the film's distributor, Mad Solutions. While the film gives off a satirical comedy vibe, Sabbagh, who also penned the script, stressed that Barakah Meets Barakah is not an entertainment-oriented film as much as it is a cultural one. Barakah Meets Barakah was filmed in Jeddah with the help of an Egyptian crew comprising first assistant director Amro Hassan, DOP Victor Credi, and musician Waleed Yassin, who composed the film's score. Al-Ahram Arabic quoted Sabbagh as saying that his decision to resort to an Egyptian DOP was due to the visual similarity between the cities of Cairo and Jeddah. According to Sabbagh, the film, which can only be screened via satellite channels following the Saudi Arabian authorities' decision to ban it, took two years of preparation and nearly a month of filming. “Saudi Arabian society is diverse, but unfortunately very classist as well, [but] Jeddah remains one of the most open cities,” Sabbagh said during Friday's discussion, adding that he aspires to see Saudi Arabian society become more open and connected with the world. When an audience member commented that Barakah Meets Barakah incites Saudi Arabian youth to engage in romantic relationships, Sabbagh asserted that it was on Saudi Arabian peninsula that some of the most popular love stories bloomed centuries ago, including those of Qais and Layla, and Antar and Abla. Sabbagh went on to discuss how the Egyptian cinema of the 1960s constitutes one of his major inspirations. This is particularly vivid in Barakah Meets Barakah, where Sabbagh has chosen to integrate a scene from Youssef Chahine's 1958 chef d'oeuvre Bab Al-Hadid (Cairo Station) in the film's opening scenes, as will as a still from Ice Cream fe Gelim (1992). Both films, he explained, “are examples of realist cinema,” and choosing to incorporate snippets from them in Barakah Meets Barakah is “a token of appreciation to their makers.” Barakah Meets Barakah made its world premiere at the 66th Berlinale, where it scooped the Ecumenical Jury Prize within the Forum section. It was selected to compete at the 60th BFI London Film Festival (October 2016), and was also screened as part of the Special Presentations section at the 41st Toronto International Film Festival (September 2016). The award-winning film is due to screen at Cairo's art-house cinema Zawya starting 25 November. Sabbagh was born in Jeddah and studied documentary filmmaking in New York. He later worked as an independent film director and producer in Saudi Arabia. His repertoire includes the documentary The Story of Hamza Shahata (2013) and the TV series Cash (2014). For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture
