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“MY BROTHER THE DEVIL” | director, Sally El Hosaini
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Sunday, January 22 8:30 pm –Prospector Square Theatre, Park City]
I believe that going to the cinema and watching a film, on the big screen, will always hold a special place in peoples hearts. Despite technological advances in terms of how films are consumed, the physical experience of the lights dimming as you are transported into another world will always be magical. This is why it will never die.
My first memory of going to the cinema was when I was six years old. I grew up in Cairo, Egypt and every summer our local sports club would set up an outdoor screen. My brothers took me to see ET. We sat on old metal chairs and they had to pay extra for more cushions so that I was tall enough to see the screen. I was captivated by the story and cried when ET went home, but what I remember most was that one of my brothers friends; an older, tougher boy, cried. The film made him cry like a girl.
I’ve always loved writing. When I was a teenager I took up photography and developed my own black and white photographs. I love people and have always had a desire to examine and understand human nature. It was a real Eureka moment when I realised that the three things I felt most passionate about in the world… words + images + people = film. To me filmmaking is a way to encapsulate and translate life. I’ve always been obsessed with the idea of capturing life. When I was a kid I would write letters to the ‘archaeologists of the future’ and I’d bury them and hide them so others could find them. Filmmaking taps into this for me. It’s the only art form that seizes and records the passage of time. You create and capture a world, or a moment, and immortalise it forever. Filmmaking is immense. It makes me feel small and humble. It’s like swimming in the ocean, once you’ve experienced it you can’t swim anywhere else.
I’m passionate about making films and telling stories that explore the complexities, and contradictions of the world. I don’t have any answers. Nothing is black or white and I’ve always liked to explore the grey areas. This is especially true of my first feature film, My Brother the Devil. It’s the story of two brothers. It’s really up to the viewer to decide which brother is the devil… if any.
