Documentary filmmaking in Alexandria, Egypt. Photo: Fryland&Lyngse

Ten Egyptian film students spent six intensive days in a film-making workshop in February in the company of the two acclaimed Danish filmmakers Mia Fryland and Flemming Lyngse. Read their report here

By Flemming Lyngse and Mia Fryland 

Our first meeting with the students is on a sunny Monday morning in February, a mixed group of students including  four women and six men between the ages of 23-29. We are in Alexandria (in Arabic: Iskenderia) to teach at the local film school at the Jesuit Cultural Center.

Connecting Danish and Egyptian filmmakers

Our workshop, supported by International Media Support, looks at basic filmic concepts such as the importance of the room and scenography, props, dramaturgy and structure. The workshop is part of IMS’ Twinning Programme which partners Danish and Arab film and media professionals to promote an exchange of ideas and experience between the regions.

Around a year ago we were contacted by Emad Mabrouk, a former student of ours, who now heads the one-year film school in Alexandria. He encouraged us to run this workshop.  The students applied to the school about a year ago and were selected after an admissions test and an interview. Emad Mabrouk, Father Francis (the head of the Jesuit Cultural Center) and Ibrahim El Batout, a well known Egyptian film maker, selected the students.

The filmmaker – not the camera – makes a good film

The first night we arrived in Alexandria, we met with Emad Mabrouk and Ibrahim El Batout, who were curious about the workshop.

- I really look forward to seeing what will come out of the workshop, Ibrahim El Bartout said.

Following the workshop some of the students have already been working as assistants on his new low-budget film.

The group of students is very diverse, but all are curious and talented. A few do not speak English, but we solve this problem easily during the workshop as some of the students translate into Arabic for their fellow students.

The cameras used by the class are a mixture of small video cameras and digital cameras. We switch into video-mode and begin our first lesson with our mantra - it is not the camera which makes a good film, it is the filmmaker.

- I think you both proved to all of us that having a good camera is not what makes a film good,  says Mayye Zayed. This is what the students also prove and learn during this workshop.

Speaking about the workshop, student Nermeen Salem said that the workshop and exercises gave him the courage to meet new people and remove his inhibitions of asking them whether they want to be filmed.

Life in Iskenderia

The workshop ran every day from 11 am to 7 pm. Thereafter the students did their homework, a small documentary exercise and shoot for the film “Life in Iskenderia”.

- Props were a very important discovery, one of the students, Dahlia Refaat, commented.

During the workshop we showed a wide range of films from Finnish and Danish documentaries to English and American documentaries, video art and propaganda films spanning from the '60s until today. Most of the students were not already acquainted with these films except for one of the film students named Mohamed Zedan. He had his own ”Alexandria Library” - a film library containing every good film imaginable. His collection extended from ”Du er ikke alene” (A Danish youth film from the 70-ies),”Ordet”,Th. Dreyer; ”The White Diamond”, Herzog; ”Häxen”, Benjamin Christensen 1924; and all of Bergman’s films and more.

- I feared I would have some problems because of the (English) language during the workshop, but it was easy, and I liked the pressure and all the homework, Mohamed Zedan said.

From fiction to documentaries

The initial ambition of most of the students was to make fiction films, as they did not know much about documentary filmmaking. However, during the workshop each of them made 10 small “documentary films” and together, as a group, they shot material for a 30-40 minute documentary film, with the working title “Life in Iskenderia”, which they are editing at the moment. 

- I liked the street experience so much and I wish I could not stop it. And I have to thank you for the screened movies, especially “Thursday’s children", said Mohamed Hadidi.

After six hardworking days with shooting day and night, screenings, laughter and good teamwork the workshop ends.

- Documentary, Documentary, Documentary - Viva Documentary, said film student Dahlia Refaat, in response to all she had learned.