{"id":911145,"date":"2026-11-09T10:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T10:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/911145\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T10:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T10:28:12","slug":"brink-of-dreams-director-preps-dark-comedy-about-obsession-with-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/911145\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Brink of Dreams’ Director Preps Dark Comedy About Obsession With Fame"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEgyptian filmmaker Ayman El Amir<\/a>, who co-directed the groundbreaking, Cannes prize-winning documentary \u201cThe Brink of Dreams,\u201d is developing his next feature, \u201cA Pair of Shoes in the Dark Corner of the Moon.\u201d The satirical comedy is among the projects that will be taking part in the Crossroads Co-Production Forum of the Agora, the industry arm of the Thessaloniki Intl. Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\n\tSet in a remote Egyptian village, the film follows George, a quirky Coptic dreamer who\u2019s desperate to be a famous actor but is stuck playing an extra in low-budget films. As his village is promised a sewage mega-project, George also catches a miraculous break on a space-themed reality TV show promising a voyage to the moon. Overnight, he becomes a celebrated national hero.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut when the show is exposed as a scam, George becomes a laughingstock. Returning home in disgrace and exiled by his community, he discovers the village\u2019s promised project was also an illusion. The failed star embarks on a journey of self-discovery, uncovering his true identity, finding a profound sense of belonging and reclaiming a defiant spirit.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cA Pair of Shoes in the Dark Corner of the Moon\u201d is written and directed by El Amir and produced by Nada Riyadh<\/a> for their Cairo-based shingle Felucca Films. The duo co-directed \u201cThe Brink of Dreams<\/a>,\u201d which won the Golden Eye Award for best documentary at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024 \u2014 the first Egyptian film ever to be honored with that prize. The pair was also named Variety MENA Talent of the Year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking to Variety in Thessaloniki, El Amir explains how his film explores a precarious moment in Egyptian history, a period of \u201cunregulated capitalism\u201d where the government\u2019s lavish visions of a \u201cNew Republic\u201d have given way to \u201cnew satellite cities, massive highways, grandiose bridges, extravagant beach resorts and new upmarket luxurious gated cities\u201d \u2014 an unattainable reality for the millions of ordinary people living on the margins of this ambitious \u201cEgyptian Dream.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe film, says the director, asks the question: \u201cHow do you plan a future that is not in your control?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn a society where we only discuss failure as a precursor to success, \u2018A Pair of Shoes in the Dark Corner of the Moon\u2019 is a contemporary dark comedy fable that satirizes our obsession with success and fame at all costs,\u201d El Amir says.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAt its core, this film explores the boundaries of aspiration in contemporary Egyptian society, the invisible barriers that block out dreams of equality, opportunity and self-made success. It\u2019s a deeply reflective story about identity, belonging and how we perceive ourselves,\u201d he continues. \u201cYet beneath those layers, it\u2019s about the sudden, jarring realization of stepping out from under a predetermined gaze and finally being witnessed as you truly are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Brink of Dreams\u201d was a coming-of-age story that followed the Panorama Barsha Troupe, an all-female theater group in a remote village in southern Egypt who take to the streets to act out their plays denouncing underage marriage, domestic violence and patriarchy in a deeply conservative society.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAyman El Amir and Nada Riyadh co-directed \u201cThe Brink of Dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Ahmed Ismail Mousa<\/p>\n

\n\tWith \u201cA Pair of Shoes,\u201d El Amir returns to Barsha, where he spent several years while making his previous film. There, he says, the punishing realities of daily life \u2014 \u201can unforgiving sun, a parched earth and a high unemployment rate and a failed economy\u201d \u2014 stand in stark contrast to the glitzy narrative of a \u201cNew Egypt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt is this \u201cunexplored and unseen\u201d version of Egypt that he wants to bring to the screen.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOne of the important motivations for me to embark on this new project is what I experienced upon the theatrical distribution of \u2018The Brink of Dreams,\u2019\u201d he explains. During audience Q&As for what was the first Egyptian documentary ever to be distributed commercially in the country, El Amir was \u201csurprised by the stereotypes the audience\u201d \u2014 city-dwellers from Cairo and Alexandria \u2014 \u201chave about their fellow citizens who live in the south.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDuring the last decade, Egyptian cinema became predominated by images of people living in luxury compounds and gated communities that represents only less than 10% of Egyptian society,\u201d he says. \u201cWe rarely see people from the south on screen. For me, that is a question of representation that I find very important and urgent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cA Pair of Shoes in the Dark Corner of the Moon\u201d is in advanced development, with initial financing in place and plans to shoot at the end of 2028. The project was recently awarded at the CineGouna Industry Platform, where it received a $10,000 grant from Arab Radio & Television and a $10,000 production grant from ESLSCA University.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOur primary goal at Thessaloniki is to connect with strategic European and international co-producers who share our vision and can help us navigate funding, financing and European co-production avenues,\u201d says El Amir. He notes that while the film\u2019s village scenes will be shot on location in the south of Egypt, \u201cthe space-themed reality TV show sequence can be shot in any other co-production countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Thessaloniki Film Festival<\/a> runs Nov. 5 \u2013 15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Egyptian filmmaker Ayman El Amir, who co-directed the groundbreaking, Cannes prize-winning documentary \u201cThe Brink of Dreams,\u201d is developing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":911146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[380841,88,206,380842,140120],"class_list":["post-911145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ayman-el-amir","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-nada-riyadh","tag-thessaloniki-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/911146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}