Flemming Lyngse and Mia Fryland. Photo: Kira Leopoldine

Egyptian film students set for whirlwind IMS-supported course on documentary filmmaking in Alexandria

Nine Egyptian film students will spend six intensive days in February the company of the two acclaimed Danish filmmakers Mia Fryland and Flemming Lyngse of the company Fryland+Lyngse looking 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.

New tools for new stories

The overall aim of the workshop, taking place at the Jesuit Cultural Centre in Alexandria, is to help build documentary filmmaking skills and help the students to develop their stories with new tools and insight.

-  The filmmaking environment in the Middle East is undergoing a constant and exciting development. This upcoming workshop is a positive example of this development, taking place at the initiative of one of our former film students. Emad Mabrouk, whom we trained in at the Arab Institute of Film in Amman in 2006 and 2007, says documentary filmmakers and trainers Flemming Lyngse and Mia Fryland to IMS.

The meeting of two different filmmaking traditions

Over the course of six days, the nine film students aged between 20 – 30, will produce 9 – 11 short film exercises outside the classroom. The film exercises will be used for class discussions on camera use, editing and the different ways to view the world and present a story. 

-  During previous training courses in the Middle East, we observed that film students from that part of the world have a different focus when filming than in the Danish film tradition, says Mia Fryland.

-  Normally we ask the students to make a video diary every day. While watching their diaries we noticed a majority of those diaries showed abstract pictures such as colours flowing together on a surface or the importance of colors and form. It surprised us since we do not see that type of filmic ‘language’ as much in other countries. We found that this filmic language is a reflection of their upbringing in a society with a much bigger focus on the decoration of for example buildings and garments than in Northern European countries.

-You can also see the strong tradition of poetry which is in the Middle East reflected in their filmic language, adds Flemming Lyngse.

Creating a supportive filmmaking environment

According to Flemming Lyngse, the aim is not to teach the students about Danish filmmaking per se, but to present them with additional tools which they can use to express their own personal “language of film”,  add the pair who constitute the film company Fryland+Lyngse.

- Also, an active and lively filmmaking community is essential for a creative and thriving filmmaking industry. The Danish filmmaking industry is proof of this, Flemming Lyngse continues.

- The bigger the filmmaking community, the more equipment is available, the more ideas can be shared and brought to life. Just gathering nine Egyptian filmmakers for the week is in itself the building blocks for a creative film community in Alexandria.

Body perceptions in the Middle East

While in Egypt, Mia Fryland and Flemming Lyngse will also be setting afloat a new project, looking at the possibilities of making an interactive film with the working title “Perceptions and expressions of the body in the Middle East.”

- We want to address the different perceptions of the body in the Middle East and Northern Europe, says Mia Fryland.

- There is a preconception that Northern Europeans have a more liberated view in the portrayal of the human body than that of people in the Middle East, but this is not always the case. In fact, while in the company of women during my trips to the Middle East I have found that this in some instances is quite the opposite. In Cairo, we will be meeting with filmmakers and artists to discuss the possibilities of collaboration on a film project looking at this. No doubt we will encounter cultural taboos on both sides of the fence in the course of the research for this project.

More to come on the IMS training course and Lyngse+Fryland's discussions on body perceptions in the Middle East on this site in March.

For other stories on Twinning experiences, look here.