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It hasn’t been so long since rich tourists from around the world came to stay in the luxury hotels of Sharm El Sheikh. But the Arab Spring and the confusion of the post revolutionary period quickly robbed the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula of its charm as a go-to summer resort. An Egyptian filmmaker and a visual artist from Germany demonstrate that partially staging their work needn’t be at odds with authenticity. In their documentary, saturated with elements of surreal fiction, they set out to visit the last inhabitants of the shimmering city of ghosts – resort employees who feverishly dream among the abandoned hotel suites. How hard is it to balance a traditional lifestyle with the unbridled liberalism of a place in a Middle Eastern wasteland where an island of Western razzle-dazzle is slowly sinking?
Marouan Omara and Johanna Domke have been collaborating as a directing duo since 2012. Their films are cinematic hybrids, wandering around unmarked territory between fiction and documentary. They are crafted with great intelligence and political sensibility, and a beautiful lensed magical realism.

Guests:
Marouan Omara is a filmmaker based in Alexandria. He received his BA in Applied Arts in Photography and holds a Diploma in Film Directing. He is a Berlinale Talent Campus and Durban Talents alumnus. His films wander around the unmarked territory between fiction and documentary exploring the nexus of power and citizenship. His work has won awards and screened internationally at film festivals including Berlinale, IFF Rotterdam, Karlovy Vary IFF, London Film Festival. He teach film in different universities and is also the managing director of the Regional Conference for Arab Independent Cinema.

Johanna Domke studied Fine Arts in Scandinavia and graduated in Film Directing from the Media Art Academy in Cologne. She produces projects that lie in the space where art and cinema meet, with a combined structural and socio-political approach. Domke has been an active part of the international art scene, showing her films in recognized art institutions and taking part in numerous artist in residency programs. She has been teaching in ground courses in art and photography and is writing papers on media theory.