Egypt's gold prices fall on July 31st    Egypt signs new exploration deal with Eni, BP    Sterling set for sharpest monthly drop since 2022    Germany says process towards recognition of Palestinian state 'must now begin'    Egypt, Brazil sign deal to boost pharmaceutical cooperation    Egypt exports first high-tech potato seeds to Uzbekistan after opening market    Modon Holding posts AED 2.1bn net profit in H1 2025    Egypt's Al-Sisi, Italian defence minister discuss Gaza, security cooperation    Egypt's FM discusses Gaza, Nile dam with US senators    Aid airdrops intensify as famine deepens in Gaza amid mounting international criticism    Egypt's Electricity Ministry says new power cable for Giza area operational    Health minister showcases AI's impact on healthcare at Huawei Cloud Summit    On anti-trafficking day, Egypt's PM calls fight a 'moral and humanitarian duty'    Egypt strengthens healthcare partnerships to enhance maternity, multiple sclerosis, and stroke care    Egypt keeps Gaza aid flowing, total tops 533,000 tons: minister    Indian Embassy to launch cultural festival in Assiut, film fest in Cairo    Egyptian aid convoy heads toward Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens    Culture minister launches national plan to revive film industry, modernise cinematic assets    Sudan's ambassador to Egypt holds reconstruction talks on with Arab League    I won't trade my identity to please market: Douzi    Sisi sends letter to Nigerian president affirming strategic ties    Two militants killed in foiled plot to revive 'Hasm' operations: Interior ministry    Egypt, Somalia discuss closer environmental cooperation    Egypt's EHA, Huawei discuss enhanced digital health    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



''The City of the Dead'' is as lively as ever
Published in Almasry Alyoum on 18 - 02 - 2012

In his documentary “The City of The Dead,” director Sérgio Tréfaut moves out of his comfort zone in Portugal and sets up to explore the meaning of home in one of Cairo's most unique areas.
“This place has a special magnetism. I couldn't live anywhere else,” explains the film's invisible narrator, a resident of the city's largest cemetery.
Tréfaut's lingering camera conveys brilliantly the neighborhood's je-ne-sais-quoi. He catches the peaceful and quiet atmosphere akin to Upper Egyptian villages, and presents friendly people with strong values based on family and religion.
He shows the striking normalcy of living surrounded by death.
Death can be practical: a woman is happy that she pays only LE70 for her one-room tomb. It could be more expensive, she says while cooking dinner, but her tomb's owner likes her, so she pays less rent.
Death can be mundane: a boy tells the scary tale of a wolf that once dug up a newly-buried corpse and ate it. The family came back the next day to pray, and was dismayed by what had happened.
“What did they do?” asks the cameraman. “They cried. What else could they do?” the boy answers.
And death can be ubiquitous: “We are sitting on the bone house,” says one of two women to the camera. “They are all dead. Everyone has his day,” says the other.
Tréfaut spent a long time with his subjects and he's not afraid to interact with them from behind the lens. He favors images over facts and his movie is meant more like an open window through which to observe a fascinating world, rather than activism about living conditions.
In truth, there are only two hard facts put on the table: fellaheen moved to the cemetery en masse in the 1960s, and the current population hovers around one million. Even the Egyptian name for the place, Al-Arafa, is omitted.
"The City of The Dead" is a departure film for Tréfaut, whose work had so far been about understanding his own surroundings. “Outros País” (“Another Country,” 1999) looked into the 1974 Portuguese revolution, and “Fleurette” (2002) covered his family history from 1940s France to 1974 Portugal. “Lisboetas” (2004), his most recent documentary before “The City of The Dead,” captured the life of immigrants in Lisbon.
At the outset of the project, Tréfaut says he knew that he would not be able to just “get to a place like this and want to shoot” without first knowing the neighborhood intimately. He came to Cairo eight times between 2004 and 2009, and took Arabic classes to engage with the film's characters. On his fourth trip, he was adopted by a family of undertakers.
This strategy allowed him to make contact with individuals and go deeper into their stories.
Like the grandmother who is struggling to raise her grandchildren alone. She longs for her lost husband and son, both of whom are buried in the “city,” but not in her house.
She unlocks their currently unoccupied tomb, and gives a hint as to why the dead need the living. “I was really happy when someone was living here,” she says about the burial house. She regularly cleans the room and puts on the Quran for her loved ones, because “dead people hear and know,” she says.
In a place where life and death cohabit, Islam takes on a special dimension, and Tréfaut draws on religion to hold the film together. He barely uses music, relying instead on muezzin's voices pacing the movie according to the speed of life in the City of the Dead.
Islam sets the mood from the first to the last shots. “We should get wisdom from the place we live,” as one woman puts it.
The movie opens on a rooftop terrace overlooking the cemetery, where a little girl repeats Quranic verses after her grandfather. They are brought back only at the end, but it's a blind Quran singer who puts a conclusion to this privileged observation of their lives.
Tréfaut's focusing on individuals reminds his viewers that home is less about a place, but more about people. Life in the City of the Dead is normal despite the incongruous surroundings, and more importantly, no one is a victim, nor is anybody a hero.
It's a place where little girls dream of marrying doctors while wearing strapless gowns, and where foul-mouthed boys run after each other and fight playfully. It's a place where people find love and happiness, and where neighbors disagree loudly on how things should be.
Released in 2009, “The City of The Dead” won the Grand Prix at the Madrid International Film Festival in 2010.
It premiered in Cairo this week at the Italian Cultural Institute in Zamalek.


Clic here to read the story from its source.