Akhnaton Films announced today that Sherif Sadek’s award-winning documentary, “From Queens to Cairo” (2012) is continuing on its film-festival journey with a screening Sunday, June 23 at the San Antonio Film Festival. The festival runs from June 19 to June 23, in San Antonio, TX.
Nominations, Awards and Screenings
• Nominated as Best Director of a Short Documentary for “From Queens to Cairo” at the Madrid International Film Festival, July 1 – 6, 2013.
• Official selection and screening in the Egyptian Works program at the 16th annual Ismailia International Film Festival in Ismailia, Egypt, June 4 – 9, 2013
• Winner of Best Feature Documentary at the Queens World Film Festival, in Queens, NY, March 2013.
• Official Selection at the Rainier Independent Film Festival, Mount Rainier, WA, May 10 – 12, 2013
• Featured on Indiewire as Project of the Day.
This informative and insightful documentary follows Egyptian-American filmmaker Sherif Sadek as he returns to his native Cairo with his family one year after the start of the Egyptian Revolution. With tons of misinformation in the global media, Sadek is determined to see for himself how Egyptians will navigate the bumpy road to democracy after decades of authoritarianism. His journey takes him from famed Tahrir Square to the inside of taxi cabs to rallies and slums as he searches for perspectives from all walks of life.
Sherif Sadek, Akhnaton Films:
The growing interest in this documentary by the global community is incredibly heart warming because as an American Egyptian, making this film is very personal to me. With the recent political events in Egypt, I wanted to experience history in the making and show the world the humanity, passion, and courage of the Egyptian people, no matter their political beliefs. Fortunately, I’m able to use powerful DI software tools like SCRATCH to shape the story and preserve the realistic look of day-to-day events.
Production
Sadek shot “From Queens to Cairo” with a Nikon D7000 HDSLR. He then used ASSIMILATE’sSCRATCH software to do the conforming and turned to Jason Crump at Metropolis Post for the color grading in SCRATCH. Sadek was able to do the finishing himself, using the SCRATCHFinishing software. Sadek notes, “I work with SCRATCH every day in a technical support role for ASSIMILATE, but to experience its ease-of-use and powerful tool set as a user, gave me even greater appreciation for the craft and creativity of post-production artists.”
Quotes from the industry
Don Cato, curator of the Queens World Film Festival 2013, gave high marks to Sadek’s documentary, stating, “What at first seemed ordinary, quickly turned to an unflinching drama, drawing a line between pyramids and poverty, Cairo and New York, a people’s movement for freedom and the reactions of his children. It’s a very, very fine piece of work!”
“When I saw this [film] at the Queens World Film Festival this year, it brought tears to my eyes,” said Faiyaz Jafri, award-winning NYC filmmaker and artist.
–SHOOT Publicity Wire
