Asmaa - Egyptian movie talk about woman living with HIV/AIDS
Dollar film & New Century presents
Film Clinic production
The film is inspired by true events revolving around an Egyptian woman living with HIV/AIDS who decides to reveal her secret on a famous talk show and demand her basic rights from society and the government.
Asmaa premiered in Abu Dhabi film festival and won the awards for best Arab director and best actor for Maged El Kedwany.
Director of photography: Ahmed Gabr
Art Director: Hend Haider
Sound Eng.: Ahmed Adnan
Editing: Amr Salah
Music composer: Hany Adel
Sound mixing: Gomaa Abdel Latif
Customs design: Monia Fath El Bab
Production manager: Ahmed Badawy
Starring
Hend Sabri
Maged El Kidwany
Hany Adel
Ahmed Kamal
Sayed Ragab
Samia Asaad
Fatma Adel
Mohamed Youness
Amr Salama’s Asmaa to Egypt is like James Cameron’sAvatar to Hollywood; just as Hollywood was waiting for a breakthrough on the level of CGI technology, Egypt was waiting for a new and suitable approach on the level of self-awareness.Forty-five-year-old Asmaa is an embodiment of the sufferings which HIV positives, in general, and the women among them, in particular, face in the Egyptian society. While the educated may very well understand that such a disease cannot be transmitted through sneezing or shaking hands, the uneducated masses may not even consider that. This, in itself, could be a life-in-death matter to some people. Such a description best fits the life of Asmaa’s which we, unfortunately enough, learn is based on a true story.
The skill comes in the fact that taking the story from real life and adapting it to the big screen, in no way, affects the credibility of the story. This is done through a number of elements: (a) the absence of the background music which, unconsciously, relates the events the viewer sees on screen to real life, while its presence might have worked as a reminder that the people he’s watching are merely actors and actresses doing their lines; (b) the documentary-like way in which the scenes inside the association for AIDS are shot, assisted by the dim lighting that may reflect the emotional state of the patients; (c) the language of the screenplay, by Amr Salama as well, is the same language we hear in our everyday lives (something we miss in a numerous number of Egyptian films), coated by the indispensable layer of black comedy which the Egyptians are famous for; and (d) the mesmerising performances, both verbal and physical, by the talented Hend Sabry, Maged El-Kedwany, Hany Adel who impressed us for the second time this year after Sout El-Horeya as well as, of course, the assisting cast which were no less good.
The genius of Asmaa does not stop at this level but moves on to the way in which such a critical issue is presented to the audiences. While the film may be discussing a highly sensitive issue, the moral, civilised approach in which it is introduced to the audiences respects the morals of the Egyptian viewer. Most importantly, the story does not lose its credibility, as a result. But if, like me, you’re very strict about such issues, there’s only a scene involving Hend Sabry and Hany Adel in bed — both fully dressed — getting closer to each other. Aside from this, Asmaa may be regarded as a solid proof that credibility can no longer work as a justification of the explicit portrayal of immorality in film.
If there’s anything that I’m sure of, it’s the fact that, fifty years from now in shaa Allah, critics will look back and say that Asmaa represents a major leap in the history of Egyptian Cinema. After all, Asmaa is the revolution which the Egyptian screen has long waited for.
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