2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

Our film opens on the trendiest music video to Egypt's top rock band, in which we see them performing in a colorful set. It tricks the viewer into thinking that it is the actual content then reveal a visual trick a few seconds in, where the set suddenly starts filling with water. But we see the band continuing their performance naturally, as we zoom out the phone in the hand of a boy sleeping while in the bathtub. As he moves while asleep, the phone falls in and out of the water, but the content is still playing.

Tell the jury about the production design / art direction. You may wish to comment on choices, challenges or effects.

In order to mimic the exact phone movement in our hero’s hand of falling in water while he falls asleep in a bathtub, it was crucial to apply the most accurate mechanism. An exact replica of the content’s real set was built as well as a giant tank that took 3 days to fill with fresh water for clear visibility. To simulate the phone drop into a bathtub, the set was pulled up with a crane then dropped into the tank with the band performing as the water slowly rises up. With the COVID outbreak, and all airports shutting down, we had to go the lengths of building the first-of-its-kind set in the region at a tight time and budget whilst ensuring the safety of our 5 band members as well as their comfort having had to sink into a water