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Noureldin Ahmed

Letters of Confinement

Doc. expérimental | digital | couleur et n&b | 20:0 | Egypte | 2021

The Letters of Confinement is an essay film filmed entirely within the confinement of the filmmaker’s house during the quarantine. The first half of the film covers the story of creation according to the the ancient Egyptian genesis. The second half introduces the counter-narrative of creation based on a poem by Ibn Al-Farid, A Sufi master. The film goes on to cover stories like the deluge, the annual inundation, the nature of names, and perversions dictated by the confinement, like voyeurism and eavesdropping. During the documentation process, the surroundings work in accordance to the will of the filmmaker as if the exterior reflects his interior desires. The film follows a collage-like format. Collecting different stories and unrelated footage within the frame of the film. In doing so, an alternative narrative is created where fiction and reality overlap.

Noureldin Ahmed is an independent filmmaker, film curator, translator and visual artist; born, raised and based in Cairo, Egypt. He studied Media Design at the faculty of Applied Arts and Sciences at the German University in Cairo. In his work, Nour questions the notion of self identity within the urban context, namely in Cairo, opening up his self-centered pieces to public viewership and interpretation. Nour has participated in a number of group exhibitions in the past years. His first film, Summertime Dreams, was screened at Ismailia International Film Festival for Shorts and Documentaries in 2019. In 2020 he held his first solo exhibition, A Self-Portrait with a Halo and a Pomegranate. Nour is one of the recipients of a number of grants, including: The Self Organization Grant from Mophradat, 2021, and On the Road Again, Again from Pro Helvetia Cairo, 2022. He is a member of a cinematic collective, A Kiss in the Desert, and a research group, cifrcifrcifr. He worked as a programmer & programme co-ordinator for the short film competition at Cairo International Film Festival, a coordinator of the Arabic publications at Gouna Film Festival, in addition to working as an assistant director, assistant producer, editor and translator. Nour is currently undertaking his master's degree in Film and Screen Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK.