The 4 Choices of Alber(2023)

Egypt, Arabic - 90 min

Director

Hala Galal

Color

Length

90 min

Language

Arabic

Producer

Hala Galal

INFORMATION

galalhala@yahoo.com

The 4 Choices of Alber

Egypt

LogLine

The 4 choices Albert made, determined his destiny and made his life an inspiring legend. This film is about the risks a person takes when he decides to trust friendship, believes in love, pursue justice hoping to be free.

Synopsis

“...One cannot choose his homeland, his family, his religion, but I wanted to choose how I live...” said Albert Arie. The film is tracing the 4 choices that Albert Arie made that changed his life and determined his destiny. The life story of the Communist Jew who identified himself as an Egyptian. After spending 11 years in prison as a price for his choices. He then goes out to find the love of his life, start a family and a successful farming business, that he learned in prison. Albert Arie is a real Tragic Hero. The irony is that the meaning of his name is “Noble and Bright”. The film is a personal testimony part of the oral history of Egypt that was never told.

Hala Galal

Director

Director’s Statement

The main question of the film: Is the grandeur of actions measured by their results? If not, So, what do we measure? A personal obsession drives me to make films about people like Albert each time I meet them. Albert Arie is a friend of my parents. Finding Albert, a very inspiring person, I view him as a brave man. I always made films about personal choices. Admiring independent souls who always try to follow their own wills/guts despite the majority. Hunted by Cairo, the city where I was born (also Albert), concerned about how the history and the political changes can affect personal lives. The film takes place in Cairo, where Albert was born in the 1930s, to a merchant father and a middle-class Jewish family. Since his youth, he was a distinguished personality, having a lot of empathy for human pain, and opposing social injustice led him to join the communist movement at an early age. Hating stereotypes, following his guts, far from satisfying “the groups that he belongs to”. He never compromises or submits in order to be accepted. This led him to remain an independent spirit searching for a deep meaning of life, Albert spent his life searching for the “Values” away from slogans. Albert believes in the capability of humanity to become free. Tahrir square in 2011, Albert recognized himself as one of the seed growers and connected immediately to the popular movement, this is how he believes in Hope and maybe for that he never regretted his choices.

Hala Galal

Producer

Producer’s Note

This film tells a personal story that reflects at the same time the historical context in which it took place, which provides information about a historical era that has been completely obliterated. We believe that it is beneficial for humanity to provide information and preserve memory, so that the day will come when the truth is clear and not blurred. 

Producer’s Filmography

• Cities Chooses Their Dead, 1994

• A Piece of Chalk, 1998 

• The Thorn, 1999 

• Preparing for victory, 1999 

• Journey “Bahaa Taher”, 2000 

• In an Unusual Garden, 2001 

• Official Papers, 2001 

• Adam Henin From Afar, 2002 

• Abla Kamel Remembers, 2002 

• Der El Barsha, 2004 

• Self-Creation “Dr. Yahia Al Rakhawy”, 2004 

• Women Chit-Chat, 2005 

• People's Affairs, 2006