How can a film director express an artistic vision without neglecting to make it enjoyable to watch? What would convince a big music star to take part in a film telling the story of an ambitious young man who dreams of becoming a professional singer, but who faces discrimination because of his skin colour? Director Karim El Shenawy’s new film “The Tale of Daye’s Family” is competing in the “Generation 14 plus” category at the Berlinale. He reveals his unique experience of telling a deep human story while maintaining the viewer’s suspense.
The Berlinale’s “Generation 14 plus” competition rarely shortlists Arab films, possibly because most years, almost no Arab films are produced specifically for children and teenagers. This year, however, Egyptian cinema features in the competition through Karim El Shenawy’s new film, “The Tale of Daye’s Family,” that revolves around the journey of a talented albino teenager who leaves his hometown in Nubia, Southern Egypt, to head to Cairo and pursue his dream of singing. I met the film’s director El Shenawy to talk about making the film, and how it differs from the usual run of Egyptian cinema.You began work on this project a long time ago. Tell us about the journey of making the film.
In 2019, I read the script, by Haitham Dabour. I liked it, as I found there was something magical about it, and I dreamed of bringing it to the screen. However, it seemed like an impossible project to put into reality.
In 2020, I directed a successful TV series called Take Care of Zizi, and a production company then offered me a film project to direct. I excused myself from that project and told them that there was a film that I wanted to make. They actually signed a contract for the script, and we started preparing, but the lead actress dropped out days before filming, and the producers decided to halt the project.
At that point, the writer and I decided that we wanted to make the film, even at our own expense, so we set up a company that bought the rights to the script from the producers, so it was ours again. That was the start of our journey with it, the most important stage of which was convincing Mohamed Mounir to be involved.
Mounir is one of the biggest stars of Arab music over the last half century. Was he in the script from the first moment?
Of course! He has Nubian roots, so it makes sense that every talented Nubian child’s dream is to become like him. Mounir liked the film, but he was hesitant about it. We kept trying to convince him, until he called me one day in 2023 and announced he was willing to shoot. So we immediately funded the day of filming in which he appears, and rushed to film it without even completing the rest of the casting.
We had already agreed in 2020 that Badr (Mohamed) would play the lead role, but three years is a long time when you’re growing up, and he had transformed from a child into a teenager. So we adjusted the story to fit his age. Mounir’s involvement later enabled us to bring on more producers to support the project, meaning we were able to complete filming in the summer of 2024. How hard was it to find an child with albinism who was good at acting?
We put out an open call for an albino child who loves to act, and about 70 children came, which is a relatively large number—although it’s nothing compared to the thousands who respond to a normal open call for auditions. We liked Badr, and we invested time to train him in acting and singing.
When the filming was halted in 2020, he was very frustrated, so I decided to keep him as part of the project and the journey, even if we had to modify the story. The truth is that this change added depth to the story, which took on the added irony that Daye is a teenager but his mother is determined to treat him as if he were a child, while his teacher is very young, but her mother treats her as if she were a grown woman.
The Tale of Daye’s Family is rather unique in Egyptian cinema, different both from mainstream commercial productions and artistic and independent films. Were you aware of this difference?
That was a conscious decision, based on my observation that there is a huge gap between the two types of films you find in Arab cinema. Most filmmakers are pushed in one of two directions: sticking to the standards of the local market, which means compromising on the form of the narrative; or directing their compass towards international festivals, which means the film moves closer to the tastes of European programmers than those of Egyptian viewers.
I believed that there was a third way between these two paths, and the film’s selection for the “Generation 14 plus” category, which is a perfect fit, seems to confirm this initial conviction. That feeling that will be complemented by the film’s commercial release; I’m betting it will find a supportive audience, despite expectations to the contrary. My dream is that the film will represent a first step towards making a change and creating a new trend in Egyptian films.
One of the difficulties of the film was shooting in different cities in Upper Egypt that are rarely seen on screen. What was that experience like?
We filmed in Nubia, Aswan, Luxor, Qus, and several places along the road, in other governorates. Egypt is rich in locations that aren’t properly portrayed in cinema. In the Nubia scenes, I deliberately didn’t show the usual touristy images of colourful houses, but tried to present a more realistic picture of life there. Filming in distant cities is exhausting and expensive, and many filmmakers are forced to dispense with it for logical reasons related to production. But we insisted on shooting in those provinces, because otherwise we wouldn’t have had a film. The contrast in the images, architecture, light and seasons between Cairo and the provinces is an indispensable element in our film. You can’t make a travel film without actually going on a journey.
Given that lots of children and teenagers attend the “Generation 14 plus” competition, do you have any expectations about how the film will be received by the Berlinale audience?
I don’t have any expectations, but rather curiosity and hopes, simply because it will be the film’s first screening in front of a real audience. When it premiered at the Red Sea Film Festival, the audience was made up of professionals, so its reception by the Berlinale audience will tell us a lot about how the average viewer interacts with the film. We will definitely benefit from whatever the reaction there is, as we’re on a continuous learning journey, which won’t be complete until the film is screened at Egyptian cinemas.
You took part in the Berlinale Talent Programme in 2015, and now you’re returning with your own film, 10 years later. What comes to mind when you think of the two trips?
The Berlinale was the first major festival I ever attended. I was amazed at the size of the festival and the audience, and the European film market, which at the time was bigger than I could comprehend. Now, of course, I feel proud to come back to show my film, precisely because I’ve come to realise that the best steps in my career have been the ones I took without thinking too hard, driven by passion and faith alone.
I hope I’ll return to Berlin again one day with another film.
February 2025