Life is not black and white, but rather has many options. This was probably the main idea that scenarists Sherien and Mohamed Diab wanted to deliver through their film Décor which was displayed in the 36th session of the Cairo International Film Festival.
Over 116 minutes, the film stars Houreya Farghaly, Khaled Aboul Naga, and Maged al-Kedwany excelled in tightly drawing a triangle where the binaries of the past and present, reality and hope, and truth and illusion rotated before the conflict reached its peak bringing a surprising end to the audience.
"The story revolves around Maha who is jostling between two worlds, one real and the other imaginary… She puts through her story a question about whether the real world is far from imaginary world? And whether choices in our lives are easy or controled by some other factors?" said film director Ahmed Abdalla.
Ahmed Abdalla was born in Cairo in 1979. He studied classical music and played the viola. He entered the cinema world in 2003 as an editor to feature films. He wrote and directed his first feature film Heliopolis in 2009, then the Microphone in 2010 and then Farsh w Ghata in 2013.
Décor witnessed a high turnout of audience in the Cairo Film Festival. The film was displayed at the London Film Festival earlier this year.
The film is displayed along with other films in the festival including The Delicate Woman from Vietnam, The Joy of Human Desires from Canada, From A to B from the UAE, The Magic Arena from Italy, Ha'et al-Botoulat from Egypt and others.
Décor represents an extension to the psychological movies of Diab who made Ahlam Hae'eya (Real Dreams) in 2006 and Alf Mabrouk in 2009. The movie represents a new starting point for Farghaly who is the heroine.
Farghaly presented a complicated role that required significant mental and psychological effort.
The director of the film employed multiple parts of Egyptian classic movies in his work of art that overlapped with the with the characters, dialogue, and movement, adding a fascinating atmosphere.
Cairo International Film Festival closing ceremony will be held next Tuesday at the foot of the pyramids.
