Shall I Compare You To A Summer’s Day? + Director Q+A

Shall I Compare You To A Summer’s Day? + Directors Q+A

Mohammad Shawky Hassan

Egypt, Lebanon ,Germany

2022 | 66’ | Drama, Musical

Shall I Compare You to a Summer's Day? is a contemporary queer musical taking Arab folktales as its formal reference, and Egyptian pop music as its primary sonic material. It is based on the filmmaker's personal love diary and told in the form of a One Thousand and One Nights tale, where stories playfully unfold through conversations between Scheherazade, a narrator who never comes into view, and ghosts of former lovers.

Mohammad Shawky Hassan is an Egyptian filmmaker and video artist living and working in Berlin since January 2019. His last film And on a Different Note premiered at the Berlinale - Forum Expanded, and was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York as part of its permanent collection.

SAFAR Film Festival

The SAFAR Film Festival is the only festival in the UK dedicated to cinema from the Arab world. Founded in 2012, SAFAR offers a unique space for audiences to explore and celebrate Arab cinema past, present, and future.

The 2022 edition is an important milestone for the festival. SAFAR is celebrating its 10 year anniversary and is, for the first time, expanding to screen in 7 other UK cities alongside its flagship London festival.

Curated by Rabih El-Khoury, this year’s theme, The Stories We Tell in Arab Cinema, invites you to go back to the very essence of filmmaking: storytelling. Featuring UK premieres, new releases and classics, the film selection explores the devices used by Arab filmmakers to push cinematic boundaries, reclaim overlooked histories, and present new perspectives to audiences both at home and abroad. It sees controversial characters run amok and experimentations in form blend the traditional with the radical. Period pieces bring colonial traumas to the global stage and social issues are inspected through surreal and fantastical lenses.

Live discussions will unpack the role of the storyteller and examine the power that lies within the industry to build worlds, shape memories and change perceptions. It’ll look at who’s telling the stories, who isn’t, and why that matters. An industry programme will offer emerging filmmakers networking and development opportunities.

SAFAR Film Festival: The Stories We Tell in Arab Cinema runs from 1-17 July with screenings in London, Coventry, Cardiff, Glasgow, Hull, Liverpool, Manchester and Plymouth. More films will also be available to watch by donation on the SAFAR website.

Explore the full programme on www.safarfilmfestival.co.uk