How The Sea Became Salty
Spring Grants 2022 - Production Stage
Maysoon El-Massry / Short Narrative / Egypt, Germany, Qatar / 20 min / Original Language: Arabic / Interests: Drama, Road Trip
Synopsis
Yara is abandoning her life and leaving Egypt for good. She refuses her friend’s Amr offer to drive her to the airport and prefers to take a taxi to avoid his questions about her sudden decision to leave the country. A peculiar relationship starts between Yara and Murad, the early-forties taxi driver who drives her to catch her flight. Murad tries to help Yara remember a song that she heard on the radio a while back but can’t remember much about. Yara opens up to Murad about how she lost all connection with the people in her life, with all her plans, with her country and how she hopes for a new start in a new place. Murad tells her that he himself had a similar experience. He also lived abroad for a few years when he was younger. He tells her that her life is not going to change just by leaving the country. Murad tells Yarar about the story of ‘How the Sea Became Salty ́. Murad is alone in his taxi. He turns on the radio, and the song Yara was trying to remember comes up. It starts to rain. Murad lights a cigarette and drives along.
Credits
- Director
- Maysoon El-Massry
- Screenwriter
- Ahmed Magdy Morsy, Maysoon El-Massry
- Producer
- Mark Lotfy, Muhammad Taymour, Willy Rollé
- Production Company
- Fig Leaf Studios
About the Director
Maysoon El-Massry is an upcoming director from Alexandria, Egypt. She worked as an A.D. on many films before directing her 1st short, 'El Bostan El Saeed Street' in 2014. Her short documentary 'Aida' premiered at IDFA 2015. After she graduated from the Theater Department at the Faculty of Arts, Maysoon studied filmmaking at the Egyptian High Institute of Cinema. She graduated from the Film Directing Department in 2018. 'How the Sea Became Salty', her second fiction film, won the development prize in The Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung in 2021.