Film Statement
Title of the project:
The Story of the Frog and the Beautiful Mermaids
Genre: Creative
Documentary Film
Length: 70 minutes
Format: HD Video
Country of production:
Egypt
Director and producer:
Ayman El Amir
Editor: Nada Riyadh
Sound Designer: Samir Nabil
* The project was
developed in “Two Sides of the Coin” training program, organized by Beirut DC.
* The project is funded By EL MAWRED culture
resource organization production award.
* This project is funded By British Council,
Egypt award for Egyptian artists.
* The project is produced By Badroom Studio and
Terso Film Productions, Egypt.
Logline
A self portrait of the Egyptian filmmaker,
who has been obsessed with films since his early childhood. But he studied
medicine because of his family's wishes and social pressure. He keeps
struggling to return to filmmaking and follow the mermaid of his life: CINEMA.
Synopsis
When he reaches thirty years old, Ayman, the filmmaker turns the camera
on to himself as a way to analyze his choices in life and indecision between
medical and filmmaking professions. The film is divided into three chapters.
The first chapter describes his childhood events that shape his ideas about life,
art and love. Ayman has been obsessed with cinema since his childhood. He was born in
1981 with the beginning of Mubarak's rule. From the political, social and
dramatic scenes he was watching on TV, he created new stories in his mind.
Those imaginations were fed by the eighties era's cartoons, songs and media.
Ayman wished all his life to be a filmmaker but he was obliged to join the faculty
of medicine because of social pressures, his family's wishes, customs and traditions
in Egypt.
The second chapter leads us into life in the faculty of medicine. Ayman
met two colleagues who share the first name, Ayman. The first one also shared with him the dream of art but he decided to quit and surrender to
medicine. The other one was also obliged to be a doctor but he decided to
take revenge by getting as much money as he can from medicine, even if it was at the
expense of his patients. Ayman kept filming his friends for 5 years,
observing the changes that have happened to them, also to keep his dream of
being a director alive. In the process of shooting, he captures frustrations,
tedium and rottenness in the world of hospitals and healthcare practitioners.
With humor and honesty, the filmmaker uses the theories and experiments of
Pavlov, the Russian scientist to explain his behavior and his friends' actions.
In the third chapter, we see the fate of the two friends. We see also
the changes that happened to all the beloved media, songs and culture since the
eighties until now from the point of view of the filmmaker. He raises the
important question about himself: will he succeed to take the bold decision, to
overcome his fears and to devote himself to the mermaid of his life, cinema?
