Shall I Compare You to a Summer’s Day?

Film program, EG/LB/DE 2022, 66 min., arab. OV + engl. UT

By: Mohammad Shawky Hassan

With: Donia Massoud, Ahmed El Gendy, Salim

Based on his own romantic diary and many conversations with Egyptian friends, in his multilayered essay film Mohammad Shawky Hassan describes the experiences of queer Arab men – their desires, jealousy and polyamory. A narrator based on Scheherezade, played by Egyptian singer Donia Massoud, serves as a common thread. In constructing it in this way, Hassan draws on a form of storytelling reminiscent of “One Thousand and One Nights” but places this tradition in a tongue-in-cheek pop-cultural context. A colorful collage full of original ideas and visual surprises is created in a mix of animation, green screen tableaus and quotes from TV series and music videos.

Kristian Petersen