A year ago, she was an up-and-coming Egyptian actress. Today, she is an up-and-coming Egyptian actress who has starred in a film screened at both Cannes and the Berlinale, as well as a participant in the Berlinale Talents programme. Fayza Shamah is an example of how film festivals can kick-start the careers of young artists.
Fayza did not study acting academically. Rather, she learned it as part of a theatre troupe while she was studying at Cairo University’s Faculty of Commerce. Later, she developed her skills by taking part in various workshops and independent groups. She also learned to dance and sing, as she waited for her opportunity to move from amateur acting into the ranks of the professionals. Her moment finally came with the film “East of Noon.”Known in Arabic as “East 12,” the film is director Hala Elkoussy’s second feature-length work. It was selected by the Cannes Film Festival to take part in the Directors’ Fortnight competition last May, and was screened at several subsequent festivals. Finally, it was selected to be the opening film of Critics’ Week in Berlin, an independent event organized by the German film critics’ association (Verband der deutschen Filmkritik) and held each year in parallel with the Berlinale.
But Fayza did not come to Berlin just to attend the screening at Critics’ Week. Her main reason for coming was to take part in the Berlinale Talents programme, which selected her after her performance in East of Noon. In the film, she plays a talented girl from a working-class area, who dreams, along with her young lover, of breaking out of the social restrictions and limited choices imposed on all residents of the neighbourhood.
We met in front of the Berlinale Palace and strolled together around Potsdamer Platz, finally having lunch at a restaurant in the Berlin Mall. I asked about her impressions of the city she is visiting for the first time, as well as her experience over the past year, one full of life-changing professional successes. Despite the intense cold of Berlin and the snowstorm that painted the first days of the festival white, Fayza was clearly enjoying the experience.
The Beginning of the Adventure
“I am part of a theatre troupe specialised in numbers, called Hidden Worlds. I had seen an open call online for actors for a new film, so I applied, without knowing that its director, Hala Elkoussy, would also come to see our troupe perform, as part of her search for actors for the film. She liked me, so I told her that I had already applied for the role. We began a long series of auditions and tests, until finally I received a call from Hala, telling me that I would be playing the lead role in the film.”
Elkoussy shot East of Noon on 35mm film, in order to achieve a particular visual character. That method meant the actors had to perform their scenes accurately and with the fewest possible errors and retakes, in order to avoid wasting film. Most of the shots were filmed in one or two takes at most, according to Fayza. From the start, she suspected the film would be successful.
“From the moment I read the script, I expected the film would be a hit. Of course, I wasn’t sure that it would be shown at a festival like Cannes, but I was certain that we were making a beautiful film that would be admired by those who watch it,” she says.
“I was in Saudi Arabia for a theatre production when Hala called me to tell me that I was going to take part in Cannes, so I immediately went home to complete the paperwork and procedures. Traveling with the team to the Cannes Film Festival was one of the best experiences of my life. Life there revolves almost entirely around the festival during those days. The audience gave us a wonderful welcome and spent ages discussing the film with us.”
The Buzz of Berlinale and how it Promotes Talent
At the Berlinale, Fayza has encountered a different kind of festival. Unlike Cannes, which is held in a quiet city with the feel of a tourist resort, the German festival takes place in a vast, bustling capital city, attracting a huge audience. Fayza believes this is a better environment for screening films.
“Of course holding festivals in big cities is better, because it guarantees the biggest and most diverse audience possible, not only professionals who travel to a small city to attend a festival,” she says.
She says she is enjoying being in Berlin, but adds that she is following a busy schedule of activities put on for those taking part in the Berlinale Talents programme.
“The programme is very intense, and very educational,” she says. “I feel I have benefited a lot. I’ve been very impressed by the training method, which is based on playing engaging games which allow us to access information.”
She adds: “There was also our meeting with a group of professional actors, as well as enjoyable lectures to the participants. Today, for example, I heard an inspiring lecture by the Tilda Swinton.”
Fayza is looking forward to rolling out East of Noon at cinemas across Egypt, and plans to leverage the fact she has played the lead role in a film that has taken part in both Cannes and the Berlinale—as well as being selected for Berlinale Talents—to continue her acting career and play different roles in which she can deploy her many talents.
About the Film
East of Noon is an Egyptian film and the second fictional work by director Hala Elkoussy. The story unfolds in a working-class neighbourhood, where a young musician aspires to win his freedom in a world governed by a society whose norms clash with his actions, and which sees him as rebellious. Through his love story with a girl, and his commitment to his talent, the hero seeks his self-realisation.
Fayza Shamah received support from the Goethe-Institut Cairo to participate in this year’s Berlinale International Film Festival and the “Berlinale Talents” programme, which aims to develop the skills of promising talents.
February 2025