You see him walking very quietly in the sides of the opera, but his eyes insinuate and memorize all the details of the place and people, he has an extraordinary memory capable of memorizing everything, and with his first participation in the Cairo International Film Festival in its 44th session with a short film, he expressed his great happiness with that participation through The movie “Hamza… I’m Chasing Someone Chasing Me” in his interview with Al-Arabiya.net, where the Palestinian artist Kamel Al-Basha said that he was very happy with this participation in a large and distinguished international festival such as the Cairo Film Festival, because it contains a huge number of very important interactive workshops and seminars.
Isn’t that your first participation in the Cairo International Film Festival?
Indeed, this is the second participation in the festival, where I participated in the previous session with the movie Curfew, which starred opposite the star Elham Shaheen and Amina Khalil, directed by Amir Ramses, especially since the Cairo Film Festival is considered one of the 15 most important film festivals in the world, and my feeling of participating in the festival this time is different. Exactly, where I discuss the issue of my country Palestine.
Kamel Pasha
How do you see the participation of your film “Hamza” in the Cairo International Film Festival?
My participation in the movie “Hamza: I’m Chasing Someone Chasing Me” in the Short Narrative Competition at the 44th Cairo International Film Festival is a great honor for me, because Egypt means a lot to the Palestinians, beyond what the Egyptians can imagine, and their connection to the Egyptians is not only emotional, but human and intellectual. Reaching the Cairo Film Festival, one of the most important film festivals around the world, is not easy and opens the doors of the world to us. The film is very special for me, because it is Palestinian par excellence. It also enjoys a special aspect because it is produced and pocketed by the Palestinians, and also because the film contains great acting talents, all of them. They had visions and one goal, which is to release a distinguished Palestinian cinematic film.
What motivated you to participate in this work?
Not because it is a youthful experience, but because of the quality of the script and the director Ward Kayal, who considers this work his first in the cinema, then concessions come in terms of materials or an increase in working hours, just as the film was filmed in the abandoned village of Al-Birwa, which is the village of the late Mahmoud Darwish, which is in a mountainous area in Haifa We have made a great physical and muscular effort, but art is a great pleasure for me, and the art and cinema industry faces some problems, including the lack of a special authority for the industry and the Palestinian government’s disregard for artwork in general.
On the right is Kamel El Pasha
How did you feel regarding making this movie?
I feel proud of the awareness of the Palestinian people of the importance of cinema in communicating our cause to the whole world, and I remember that as soon as the donation door was opened for the production of the film via the Internet, we found a stream of financial and in-kind donations for the film team represented in donating money or providing meals for the crew or cars to facilitate movement and others, and we resorted This method is used in the absence of foreign funding, especially in films that serve the Palestinian cause. Therefore, it is possible to say that the work was produced with Palestinian popular funding, and it is not the first work to be produced in this way, and it will not be the last either.
Who is “Hamza”? What difficulties did you encounter while filming?
“Hamza” is a Palestinian fighter who is approaching the age of 60. He is haunted by delusions until he decides to face them with courage, following his release from the occupation prisons and the martyrdom of his friend. Some of the scenes that really made him tired, including scenes of running and filming in forests and mountainous areas, and he said that the most difficult scene he faced in the film was the scene of carrying one of his colleagues in the film, who weighs more than 60 kilograms, and walking with him for a long distance, and that these scenes were re-filmed more than once, in addition to To running a lot, and filming in forests and mountainous areas amidst grass and thorns, as we deliberately during the film presented the audience with more than one angle in life and left the imagination to the viewer to expect events according to his own life and this is the most prominent characteristic of the work.
Since the days of showing your new series, “Room 207”, has it achieved great success?
Praise be to God, the series is currently being shown on the “Watch” platform, and I am very happy with the audience’s reactions to the first episodes of the work, and I feel very happy for my participation in Egyptian artwork, despite my presence in works from Japan, Belgium, America, and many countries. Al-Arabiya, indicating his endeavor to present new roles that are not repetitive or worn out, “I do not want to turn into a typical actor.”
What were the reasons that prompted you to participate in this work?
The character “Mina”, which I embody, is full of ambiguity and pain, in addition to the fact that the script attracted me from the first moment, even if the Egyptian dialect was the most difficult thing I faced during the preparation period, but I overcame that obstacle by a very large percentage, following I was reading the text in the Palestinian dialect, and I think I succeeded. In conveying personal feelings and deepening them.
Are there new businesses?
It is scheduled with the beginning of the new year that the Al-Alamy series will be shown, produced by Disney Plus, and I finished filming it last April, and its events revolve within a framework of suspense in eight episodes, regarding a gang of thieves who steal a safe, and the gang members are pursued, and it embodies Full role of treasury thief being an expert.
In addition, there are some negotiations currently, to present an Australian series, consisting of only 6 episodes, that revolves around the Arab communities present there, and I also contracted to present a Japanese play, dealing with the suffering of Palestinian prisoners in the occupation prisons, and this is the first time that I present a theatrical work With a Japanese band, so it is a new and important experience for me, especially since I am presenting the title role, which is the Palestinian prisoner, and it will be shown in Palestine for a week, next January, following which I will perform 12 shows in Japan.
