Egyptian film One Plus One Makes a Pharoah's Chocolate Cake, produced by Alexandria-based studio Fig Leaf, will premiere at Expanded Forum, a section within the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), in February. The film was commissioned by the Swiss based 'Norient' network and 'Sound Development' culture initiative , and is part of their Worldwide Recording Project which launched in 2015 with the aim to produce and document music tracks from upcoming international artists that are paired together. Directed by Marouan Omara and Islam Kamal, the documentary centres on two musicians; Islam Chipsy, a pioneer of Egypt's Mahraganat music genre who fuses electronic and acoustic sounds on his keyboards, and Swiss electronic musician Aisha Devi. The film documents a week of meetings between the two musicians in Cairo as they collaborate to produce a track. Mark Lotfy, founder of Fig Leaf, told Ahram Online that the documentary is an "experimental performing act" and is shot in VHS, a format of analog video recording using tape cassettes. “This is the second time for Fig Leaf to have a film at Berlinale,” Lotfy said. Last year, the studio joined with its short comedy film Expired, which was also directed by Islam Kamal. Expired's characters; A policeman, a belly dancer, a white rabbit, a secret agent, and a man hopelessly in love, are placed in “stereotypical situations, ranging from courting to interrogations, using satire and humor as a vehicle for socio-political commentary,” according to Berlinale's website. This article was edited on 9 January. 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
