Set in Cairo's poor neighbourhoods, the plot of Rags and Tatters follows an unnamed fugitive (Asser Yasin) from the notorious jailbreak that took place in the early days of the revolution, and his anguished search for a warm and safe shelter.

After escaping years of incarceration, a nameless man tries to find his way home in a Cairo turned upside down by the protests of the Jan25 Egyptian Revolution. As he revisits the family and country he has been separated from for so long, he finds that everything about life as he knew it has irrevocably changed.

A film by Ahmad ABDALLA

Egypt, 2013, Drama, 87 mins

PROGRAMMER'S NOTE
Escaping from prison amid the turbulence of the 2011 Tahrir Square demonstrations, a nameless fugitive desperately seeks warmth and shelter in the outer regions of Cairo, in director Ahmad Abdalla's vivid and captivating portrait of the fallout from the Arab Spring.

Ahmad Abdalla's eerily prescient Microphone, which premiered at the Festival in 2010, captured in pseudo-documentary style the despair, rage, and creative energy of the youth who would eventually become the vanguard - and cannon fodder - in Egypt's revolution. (Ironically, it was released in theatres in Egypt on January 25, 2011, the initial Day of Revolt that gave the uprising its name.) His latest, Rags and Tatters, picks up where Microphone ended, narrating the stories of those who were cast aside from the revolution's sweep.

Set in Cairo's poor neighbourhoods, the plot follows an unnamed fugitive (Asser Yasin) from the notorious jailbreak that took place in the early days of the revolution, and his anguished search for a warm and safe shelter.

With sparse dialogue, contemplative long takes, and nameless characters, Abdalla weaves documentary vignettes with Sufi chants and poetry in a hand-held style inspired by the amateur footage that flooded the media tent in Tahrir Square where the filmmaker volunteered during the eighteen days of the insurgency in 2011.

Rags and Tatters reflects on how film can translate the intensity of what Egyptians experienced - the contrasting moments of blind violence, salutary compassion, and unimagined joy - beyond sophistry and testimonies.

Borrowing its title from a line from an improvised poetry-chanting competition (a Sufi tradition), the film unfolds like an ode to the deeper significance of the revolution, beyond the political, ending with a call for all Egyptians, privileged and castaways, to remake their own destiny.
RASHA SALTI (Toronto FilmFest 2013)
http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/festival/2013/ragsandtatters

Director: Ahmad Abdalla

Country: Egypt
Year: 2013
Language: Arabic
Runtime: 87 minutes
Rating: 14A

Exec. Producer: Hany Saqr
Producer: Mohamed Hefzy, Omar Shama
Production Co.: Film Clinic, Mashroua

Principal Cast: Asser Yassin, Atef Yousef, Amr Abed, Yara Goubran, Mohamed Mamdouh

Screenplay: Ahmad Abdalla
Cinematographer: Tarek Hefny
Editor: Hisham Saqr
Sound: Kostas Varibopiotis
Music: Mahmoud Hamdy
Prod. Designer: Nihal Farouk

Int. Sales Agent: Film Clinic
U.S. Sales Agent: Film Clinic

Tags: Human Rights | Drama | Politics | Urban Life | Arabic

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AR

بطولة

آسر ياسين
عمرو عابد
يارا جبران
محمد ممدوح
عاطف يوسف
محمد فاروق
سندس شبايك
حمدي التونسي
مني الشيمي
سيف الاسواني
مريم القويسني
مايكل ممدوح
مع
لطيفه فهمي



مساعد المخرج الأول
عمر الزهيري

مدير الانتاج
وائل السلاموني

مدير موقع التصوير
محمد درديري

تسجل ومونتاج صوت
أحمد مصطفى صالح

مكساج
KOSTAS VARIBOPIOTIS

Art Director
نهال فاروق

موسيقى
محمود حمدي

مونتاج
هشام صقر

منتج فني
هاني صقر

مدير التصوير
طارق حفني

منتج مشارك
عمر شامه

انتاج
محمد حفظي

كتابة وإخراج
أحمد عبدالله السيد


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