Land of Women(2023)

Egypt, France, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Arabic - 105 min

Director

Nada Riyadh, Ayman El Amir

Color

Length

105 min

Language

Arabic

Producer

Ayman El Amir

INFORMATION

aymmad11@yahoo.com

Land of Women

Egypt, France, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Qatar

LogLine

In a patriarchal village, south of Egypt, a lively group of Coptic girls refuse the traditional roles by forming an all-female street theater troupe. Over the course of four years, the film follows their lives and dreams.


Synopsis

In a forgotten village in the south of Egypt, dominated by patriarchy, a group of disenfranchised Coptic girls rebel by forming an all-female street theater troupe. MAJDA, the young leader, dreams of traveling to Cairo to study theater and become a director. MONIKA, a girl with a tomboyish voice dreams to be a singer. HEIDI dreams of being a ballet dancer. These girls resist the traditional roles they are destined for. They sing, dance and run around, performing in alleys and chanting folk songs. Their actions challenge their families and the local villagers. Girls in a rebellion against the future. Has that future already been written? What spaces of freedom can they negotiate in it? To what extent can they define their own destinies within societal restrictions? A coming-of-age story of three girls across four years of their lives, while they transition from childhood to adulthood.

Nada Riyadh, Ayman El Amir

Director

Director’s Statement

This film poses the question: On our way to adulthood, can we ever preserve our freedom? We believe the story of these girls allows for the examination of the fleeting transition between childhood and womanhood; between the imaginations of the girls and their reality, their future and their present, transcending borders of genre and form. A penetration of fiction into reality and of reality into fiction. We aim to enter the bubble of the world of this group of youths, chasing the wildness and elusiveness of being young. Their light-heartedness stands in stark contrast with their harsh reality. In this coming- of-age story, we focus on these girls, who emanate strength, resilience, intelligence, courage, and love for each other. A hybrid of documentary aesthetic and unscripted narrative, depicting real people in an insular rural community, in which non-professional actors play versions of themselves. This will allow us to explore the border between tragedy and freedom, control and submission, truth and lies, and the limitations and power of cinema.

Ayman El Amir

Producer

Producer’s Note

Land of Women is a feature creative documentary directed by Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir, Egyptian filmmakers whose previous films have premiered in IDFA, Cannes and Toronto. Their film is a contemporary coming of age story, with powerful female characters, who are dancing, singing and acting, challenging their patriarchal environment. The story takes place in an unexplored and unseen territory in the south of Egypt. The project has been developed in EAVE Producers’ Workshop, Assembly Lab of Open City Documentary Film Festival, Global Media Makers Workshop of Beirut Cinema Platform, Film Independent Documentary Lab and First Cut Lab. The project is a co-production between Egypt (Felucca Films), Denmark (Magma Film) (Mette-Ann Schepelern) and France (Dolce Vita Films) (Marc Irhmer). We have a distribution deal in Denmark with Camera Film Distribution. We also have a pre-buy deal with SVT. Currently, the project is in an advanced stage of editing. We have a rough cut of the film that is available upon request. We are expecting to finish the project by March 2024. We are still looking for post-production funds to cover the post-production stage of the film, including coloring and sound design. We are also raising funds for an impact campaign that will accompany the film release, to raise awareness about the girls’ rights in patriarchal communities. The impact campaign aims also to amplify our protagonists’ voices by helping them in building their own theater space, which will be the first in their village in the South of Egypt.

Producer’s Filmography

Felucca Films is a Production Company, based in Cairo, Egypt, aiming to help filmmakers explore and shape their own personal voices and to produce unique and original fiction and documentary films, with a special focus on fresh and new talents and contemporary social issues. Felucca’s latest work includes the fiction, "Fakh", official competition of Semaine de la Critique, Cannes Film Festival 2019 and the documentary "Happily Ever After", IDFA 2016.