Rafaat einy ll sama / Les Filles du Nil / The Brink of Dreams

Nada Riyadh & Ayman El Amir: // رفعت عيني للسما // Rafaat einy ll sama / Les Filles du Nil / The Brink of Dreams (DK/FR/EG/SA/QA 2024)

// رفعت عيني للسما // [I Raised My Eyes to the Sky]

Égypte | France | Danemark | Qatar | Arabie Saoudite 2024. Production : Ayman El Amir, Nada Riyadh, Marc Irmer, Claire Chassagne

    Un film de : Nada Riyadh & Ayman El Amir

Scénario : Ayman El Amir, Nada Riyadh

Image : Dina El Zeneiny, Ahmed Ismail, Ayman El Amir - Couleur 

Musique : Ahmad El Sawy

Son : Moustafa Shaaban, Lama Sawaya

Montage : Véronique Lagoarde-Ségot, Ahmed Magdy Morsy, Ayman El Amir, Nada Riyadh

Avec : Majda Masoud, Haidi Sameh , Monika Youssef 

    1h42 

    Documentaire | VO : arabe | VOSTFR | VISA 158.021

    Festival premiere : Cannes 2024 La Semaine de la critique - Œil d'or 2024

    Sortie en France : 5 mars 2025 - Dulac Distribution

    Vu samedi, le 8 mars 2025, Majestic Bastille, 4 bd Richard-Lenoir, Paris 75011, 11e, M° Bastille, Lignes 1, 5, 8

Dulac Distribution Synopsis : " Dans un village du sud de l’Égypte, un groupe de jeunes filles coptes se rebelle en formant une troupe de théâtre de rue. Rêvant de devenir comédiennes, danseuses et chanteuses, Les Filles du Nil suit le voyage de ces jeunes femmes en quête de liberté. "

Cannes 2024 La Semaine de la critique: "In a remote village in southern Egypt, a group of girls rebel by forming an all-female street theater troupe. They dream of becoming actresses, dancers and singers, challenging their families and villagers with their unexpected performances. Shot over four years, The Brink of Dreams follows them from childhood to womanhood, facing the most crucial choices of their lives."

Cannes 2024 La Semaine de la critique: About Rafaat einy ll sama by Ava Cahen: "The heroines’ rebellious nature bleeds into the film. Our heart goes out to this group of girls who, together, find empowerment through theatre."

Nada Riyadh & Ayman El Amir’s interview

"In The Brink of Dreams we are confronted by a group of young women who try to build a community of their own, and who are bound to endure an internal struggle between living authentically and adhering to the status quo, a challenge that many face when they don't fit into preconceived standards. The protagonists find themselves on a voyage of self-discovery, one that reveals as much about them as it does about the long-standing traditions that have fuelled the culture of their lovely but stagnant village, but also about the world that exists beyond its borders."

"In that particular context, Barsha village turns into a relevant microcosm, not only for Egyptian society, but for life at large. What is fascinating about these teenage girls is their unawareness and utter disregard of the familial, societal, religious, and economic restrictions, while the camera holds in the edges of its frame the fear and restrictions those girls refuse to acknowledge. It is something that is unique to that age when a person believes in their dreams so faithfully that their belief transcends their reality. But as girls grow up, frustrations, doubts and desires start to creep into the centre of the frame, forcing them to search for their own identity."

"In this coming-of-age story, we focus on these girls, who emanate strength, resilience, intelligence, courage, and love for each other. In our modern culture, that tends to fetishize youthful naivety, to pretend that life goes in a linear movement from the open innocence of youth to jaded experience, the girls' story counters that fetish. Delving into their lives reveals the complexity of becoming a woman in zeitgeist societies. A mixture of larger-than-life dreams, reality checks, guilt and longing for childhood moments. The film aesthetics has to imitate that intricate journey by transcending genre and form. This allows us to explore the border between tragedy and freedom, control and submission, truth and lies, and the limitations and power of cinema."

IMDb: "This documentary chronicles the lives of a group of young Egyptian girls from a very conservative small village in Upper Egypt who formed an all-female acting troupe despite family rejection." 

remonsabry-05238 (IMDb 27 May, 2024): "In Upper Egypt, being a woman of a different religion than the majority is like a triple suffering and challenge in itself - Upper Egypt is neglected, Egyptian women struggle to reach even close to half equality, and Christians in Egypt struggle to at least have a place to worship. In the midst of all this, a film from the heart of Upper Egypt comes to win the first award for an Egyptian film at the Cannes Film Festival."

AA: Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir's The Brink of Dreams / Les Filles du Nil was the most important of the seven films I saw during my weekend cinema marathon which was also a trip around the world (China - Iceland - Egypt - France - Britain - Austria).

It was not the best made, it was the least polished, but in its heart is something unique and all-important.

The performances of the Barsha Village Theatre Troupe are a fresh and original reminder of the true meaning of theatre as the birthplace of community and society just like the theatre of ancient Greece.

This theatre of the young girls whom we witness growing into young women during four years is full of a life force, joy, honesty and irreverence, challenging outdated customs and conventions. It is a glorious celebration of the spoken word like in Classical Antiquity.

The young women are marginalized in multiple ways, but their spirit of freedom cannot be ignored.

I believe this is the first film I have seen that is set in the culture of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the second largest religion in Egypt. A joyous Coptic wedding celebration is one of the highlights of this unforgettable movie.