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Homemade Stories
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Homemade Stories
IDFA 2021

Homemade Stories

حكايا بيتية
Nidal Al Dibs
Syria, Egypt
2021
69 min
World Premiere
Festival history

When the revolution in Syria turned into war, Nidal Al Dibs and his family fled to Cairo. There, he started filming his Egyptian friends as they attempt to reopen a long-closed cinema in their impoverished neighborhood. As this endeavor proves to be more and more difficult, Nidal turns to managing renovations of his house back in his troubled homeland.

All he’s got is a camera and a few home movies, but Al Dibs uses them to point out major issues in the Arab world. For him, film represents hopes and dreams—and that’s a vision borne out by local people in Cairo sharing their cinematic memories. But making a dream come true is another matter entirely.

Al Dibs uses scenes from everyday life to tell a powerful story. But this film is also about the images he will never get back: footage of his old film club and photos of friends who have disappeared paint a picture of a country that no longer exists, except in the memories of its people.

Credits
Director
Co-production
    Nidal Al Dibs,
    Plateau 84
Cinematography
    Mahmoud Lotfy
    Mahmoud Lotfy
Editing
    Micheal Youssef Shafik
    Micheal Youssef Shafik
Screening copy
    Seen Films
    Seen Films
Sound
    Max Schneider
    Max Schneider

Images

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