Poisonous Roses

  • 70'
  • Egypt
  • 2018
Saqr (22) wants to flee from the grubby Egyptian tanners’ district where he lives and works. His sister, Taheya (28), wants to prevent this at all costs. She sabotages the blossoming romance between her brother and a medical student and also tries to thwart Saqr’s future plans as a boat refugee in Italy.
Every day she brings Saqr freshly prepared lunch, implying that without her care he shall starve. We follow her in her hijab along the open sewer in which blue wastewater flows from the district, down claustrophobic alleyways where hardly any sunlight penetrates.
Among the dried skins and punch-drunk mules, a shaman silently watches from his improvised throne. He is to help Taheya with an occult solution in this intriguing, skittish portrait of poverty in today’s Egypt. With phenomenal shots of the towering scaffolding of a glue factory, juxtaposed with moving scenes in which the everlasting love between brothers and sisters prevails.
 
Director
Ahmed Fawzi Saleh
Premiere
World premiere
Countries of production
Egypt, France, Qatar, United Arab Emirates
Year
2018
Festival Edition
IFFR 2018
Length
70'
Medium
DCP
Original title
Ward masmoum
Language
Arabic
Producers
Ahmed Fawzi Saleh, Karim Aitouna / Haut les mains Productions, Thomas Micoulet / Haut les mains Productions
Production Company
Haut les mains Productions
Sales
Haut les mains Productions
Screenplay
Ahmed Fawzi Saleh
Cinematography
Maged Nader
Editor
Menna Elshishini, Qutaiba Barhamji
Production Design
Omar Abdul Wahab
Sound Design
Sara Kaddouri
Cast
Koky, Mahmoud Hemida, Ibrahim El Nagary
Director
Ahmed Fawzi Saleh
Premiere
World premiere
Countries of production
Egypt, France, Qatar, United Arab Emirates
Year
2018
Festival Edition
IFFR 2018
Length
70'
Medium
DCP
Original title
Ward masmoum
Language
Arabic
Producers
Ahmed Fawzi Saleh, Karim Aitouna / Haut les mains Productions, Thomas Micoulet / Haut les mains Productions
Production Company
Haut les mains Productions
Sales
Haut les mains Productions
Screenplay
Ahmed Fawzi Saleh
Cinematography
Maged Nader
Editor
Menna Elshishini, Qutaiba Barhamji
Production Design
Omar Abdul Wahab
Sound Design
Sara Kaddouri
Cast
Koky, Mahmoud Hemida, Ibrahim El Nagary

Programme IFFR 2018

Bright Future

A selection of discoveries for the future. Emerging talent with original subject matter and an individual style. Includes the Bright Future Competition for first feature films.

Read more about this programme