SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival 2019) – Yommedine

SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival 2019) – Yommedine (Egyptian director and About Egypt)

Bashay, the protagonist of Yomeddine, is that rare cinematic character you may never have seen onscreen before. A lifelong resident of a leper colony north of Cairo, where he married and made a life as a garbage collector, he decides one day to search for the family who left him there as a child. With his young friend Obama (like “the guy on TV”) and his donkey Harby, Bashay sets out on his journey in a film that is part road movie, part buddy comedy, and part affecting neorealist drama. The bittersweet story is told with clear-eyed candor, but also with sly humor and warm humanity. “Yomeddine” is Arabic for Judgment Day, referenced here by characters who hope one day to be judged by their inner worth rather than their outward appearance. In this remarkable first feature, director A. B. Shawky revisits the leper colony where he earlier made a documentary short, and met Rady Gamal, the charismatic non-professional actor who plays Bashay. Shawky’s documentary roots and Gamal’s performance both contribute to the film’s naturalistic style, enhanced by Federico Cesca’s cinematography (Patti Cake$, SIFF 2017 and Dead Pigs, SIFF 2018).

– Justine Barda

Director Biography
Egyptian/Austrian director A.B. Shawky met the lead actor for Yomeddine at an Egyptian leper colony that had been the subject of an earlier documentary short he made while a student in Cairo. He expanded the idea into a nonfiction film for his thesis for NYC’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Showtimes and locations can be found here: https://www.siff.net/festival/yommedine

Friday, May 17, 2019 – SIFF Cinema Uptown, 8:30pm

Monday, May 20, 2019 – AMC Pacific Place, 4:30pm