settima

egypt

شكاوى الفلاح الفصيح [El-Fallâh el-fasîh / The Eloquent Peasant] (Chadi Abdel Salam, 1970)

Dec

23

National Farmers Day – India

El-Fallâh el-fasîh (1970)

The peasant (Ahmed Marei) in a stone temple, flanked by scribes. DP: Mustafa Imam.

Farmers for Kisan Divas [National Farmers Day], India.
4000 years ago, Egypt, Middle Kingdom. A peasant, leading his mules past a stream of water, is tricked. With his animals gone, he pleads to the Pharaoh to restore Maʽat, harmony.

“He's a peasant. Without looking into his situation, words are all he has.”

Chadi Abdel Salam is not only this film's director, but also a trained architect, later set and costume designer. His eye wordlessly speaks the passing of time in the smallest of details. The withering of ferns, desert sand staining linen, the Sun merging with skin. At once, the universal presence of the gods becomes visible.

المومياء [Al-mummia / The Night of Counting the Years / The Mummy] (Chadi Abdel Salam, 1969)

Jan

11

Heritage Treasures Day

Al-mummia (1969)

Men carrying the sarcophagi through the desert in a long, winding procession. Both the porters and the dead are dressed in white cloth. DP: Abdel Aziz Fahmy.

“You who go, you will return You who sleep, you will rise You who walk, you will be resurrected”