The Italian documentary Magic Arena was among the world premieres screened during the 36th Cairo International Film Festival (8-18 November). A 2014 production directed by Andrea Prandstraller and Niccolo Bruna, Magic Arena documents the making of the “Aida” opera performance that premiered on 14 June 2013 at the Arena di Verona, the first-century Roman amphitheatre in Verona, Italy. The film opened on 12 November at the Cairo Opera House Main Hall, and there could have been no better venue for the event. A second screening followed a day later at the nearby Hadara 2 Hall. The filmmakers take us to Arena di Verona, the world's biggest opera stage and the third-largest amphitheatre in the world. It measures 140 metres in length and 110 metres in width. The two largest amphitheatres are the Colosseum in Rome and Campania amphitheatre in the southern town of Santa Maria Capua Vetere. Arena di Verona is located in the Piazza Bra, Verona's main square. Until the end of fourth century, the arena served as a stage for gladiator games. The site then remained unused until a 19th-century wave of Roman amphitheatre revival, which brought back the arena's original function of hosting large-scale performances. The arena's original auditorium was designed to hold 30,000 spectators. In modern times, to assure the preservation of this unique historical site, it holds no more than 15,000. Not only does the film take us to this ancient and glorious location, the opera production it documents took place during two anniversaries: Verdi's 200th and the Arena Festival's 100th. The Arena di Verona Festival was launched in 1913 to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901). Understandably, one of the highlights of the new festival was the “Aida” opera. Between June and August 2013, exactly 100 years later, the Arena di Verona celebrated the festival's centenary with over 50 operas, three gala concerts, and performances by opera stars such as Andrea Bocelli, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo. Joining the international celebrations of Verdi's bicentenary, the festival opened on 14 June with “Aida”, directed by Carlus Pandrissa and Alex Olle, and performed on a stage designed by the Catalan theatre company La Fura dels Baus. There were ten performances, the last taking place on 3 August. While the production gave Verdi's work a futuristic feel, the same festival's edition also offered another take on “Aida”, which opened on 10 August with a remake of the 1913 stage set. Arena Magica takes us backstage for the grand production of “Aida”. The whole arena is transformed into a huge desert, with inflated sand dunes covering parts of the auditorium. Using pyrotechnics, captivating lighting effects, acrobatics, a pool with crocodiles to imitate the river Nile, a giant solar panel, sphinxes, obelisks and large mechanical animals entering the stage, the 21st-century opera had the grandeur of an extravaganza. La Fura dels Baus's production received mixed reviews. Critics praised the visually appealing scenography, but had varying opinions on the musical delivery of the soloists and the orchestra under the baton of Omer Meir Wellber. A few reviewers also noted that heavy rain posed challenges on the opening night. The aim of the documentary, however, was not to present the final production but rather to show the mechanisms of staging one of the most spectacular performances ever hosted by the arena. The filmmakers take us into the lives of the hundreds of people involved in “Aida”. From the start of rehearsals to the opening night, we follow the opera singers, choir members, orchestral musicians, scenography and light design teams, the director and his assistants. According to La Fura dels Baus, the 2013 “Aida” production involved 180 singers, 120 orchestra musicians, over 160 in the choir, 40 children and 30 dancers, as well as dozens of technicians and crewmembers. The filmmakers walk us through the work of the cast and crew, shedding light on the personal lives of a few of them. We enter the auditions, listen to the conversations backstage and even visit the homes of the artists, where we get a step closer to their real lives, look at their past and find out their opinions of the production process. At the arena, we also visit the workshops, and hear the stories of the tailors, carpenters and blacksmiths. The world of art has two faces. As viewers, we usually see only one, that of the performance itself. This is the smiling face covered in stage makeup, ready to present the best it has to offer to hundreds and even thousands of viewers. The second face is hidden backstage, where ideas, thoughts, worries and hopes are submerged in countless artistic and organisational details. Andrea Prandstraller and Niccolo Bruna reveal to the viewer the second face of this enormous endeavour, the one we often wonder about but seldom even register as we enjoy a performance, forgetting the complicated mechanisms that led to the show. While delving into the making of the opera, the filmmakers grasp important moments of lived experience. They portray the world behind the scenes and how it fuses passion with hard work, professionalism with creativity, and how concepts are realised, ideas turning into scenography, lighting, costumes, music and movement. While providing the viewer with a unique experience, the filmmakers build their work on two parallel thematic lines. Magic Arena is divided into segments: a prologue and four acts, each representing part of the “Aida” libretto. The buildup is represented on both sides: from the early preparation of settings and rehearsals, the artists' testimonies are entwined with the narrated story of the opera. By the end of this 90-minute film, the viewer walks out with a fuller understanding not only of the new production but of Verdi's “Aida” itself —the beautiful story of the opera, and the somehow divine process of opera-making. But Magic Arena is not only a treat for regular cinema-goers and lovers of performance. It is also an important lesson in large-scale production that arts professionals will find extremely pertinent to their work. For Egyptian artists, Magic Arena is an opportunity to review their own “Aida” productions and draw valuable lessons about the new forms and tools used by their peers in other parts of the world. Verdi's “Aida” has a strong historical importance in Egypt due to its thematic content. Not to mention, its commission and premiere took place on 24 December 1871 at the Khedivial Opera House (Egypt's old opera house). The opera continues to be performed regularly in Cairo. With the screening of the world premiere of Magic Arena at the new Cairo Opera House Main Hall, one more big moment has been added to Egypt's history of performance.
