Egyptian filmmaker Ayman El Amir, who co-directed the groundbreaking Cannes-winning documentary “On the Verge of Dreams,” is developing his next feature film, “A Pair of Shoes in the Dark Corner of the Moon.” Satirical comedy is among the projects that will participate in the Crossroads Co-Production Forum of Agora, the industrial arm of Thessaloniki International. Film Festival.
Set in a remote village in Egypt, the film follows George, a quirky Coptic dreamer who desperately desires to become a famous actor but is forced to work as an extra in low-budget films. While his village is promised a mega sewer project, George gets a miraculous opportunity on a space-themed reality TV show promising a trip to the moon. He becomes a famous national hero overnight.
But when the show turns out to be a scam, George becomes a laughing stock. Exiled by his society and returning home in shame, he discovers that the village’s promised project was also an illusion. The failed star embarks on a journey of self-discovery, uncovering her true identity, finding a deep sense of belonging, and reclaiming her defiant spirit.
“A Pair of Shoes in the Dark Corner of the Moon” is written and directed by El Amir and produced by Nada Riyadh for Cairo-based tile Felucca Films. The duo co-directed “The Brink of Dreams”, which won the Golden Eye Award for best documentary at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and became the first Egyptian film to receive this award. The couple was also named Diversity MENA Talent of the Year.
To talk Diversity In Thessaloniki, El Amir explains how his film explores a precarious moment in Egyptian history, a period of “unregulated capitalism” in which the government’s wasteful “New Republic” visions gave way to “new satellite cities, massive highways, majestic bridges, glitzy beach resorts, and new luxurious, luxurious gated cities”; an unattainable reality for millions of ordinary people living on the fringes of this ambitious “Egyptian Dream.”
The director says the film asks the question: “How do you plan for a future that you have no control over?”
“In a society where we discuss failure only as a harbinger of success, ‘A Pair of Shoes in the Dark Corner of the Moon’ is a contemporary black comedy tale that satirizes our obsession with success and fame at any cost,” says El Amir.
“At its core, this film explores the limits of aspirations in contemporary Egyptian society, dreams of equality, and the invisible barriers that hinder opportunity and personal success. It is a deeply reflective story about identity, belonging, and how we perceive ourselves,” he continues. “Yet it’s about that sudden, jarring realization of stepping out from under those layers, from under a predetermined gaze, and finally witnessing it as you truly are.”
“Threshold of Dreams” was a coming-of-age story about the Panorama Barsha Troupe, an all-female theater group in a remote village in southern Egypt, who took to the streets to perform their plays condemning underage marriage, domestic violence and patriarchy in a deeply conservative society.
Ayman El Amir and Nada Riyadh directed “The Brink of Dreams”.
Courtesy of Ahmed Ismail Mousa
With “A Pair of Shoes,” Al Amir returns to Barsha, where he spent several years while shooting his previous film. There, he says, the punishing realities of daily life — “an unforgiving sun, an arid land, high unemployment and a failing economy” — stand in stark contrast to the bombastic narrative of “New Egypt.”
It is this “undiscovered and unseen” version of Egypt that he wants to bring to the big screen.
“One of the important motivations for me to start this new project is what I experienced in the theatrical distribution of ‘The Brink of Dreams,’” he explains. During audience Q&A about the first Egyptian documentary to be commercially distributed in the country, El Amir was surprised by the stereotypes that Cairo and Alexandria city residents “have” about citizens living in the south.
“Over the last decade, Egyptian cinema has been dominated by images of people living in luxury estates and gated communities, representing only less than 10% of Egyptian society,” he says. “We rarely see people from the South on screen. For me, this is an issue of representation that I find very important and urgent.”
“A Pair of Shoes in the Dark Corner of the Moon” is in advanced development, with seed funding available and shooting planned for late 2028. The project was recently awarded at the CineGouna Industry Platform, where it received a US$10,000 grant from Arab Radio and Television and a US$10,000 production grant from ESLSCA University.
“Our primary goal in Thessaloniki is to connect with strategic European and international co-producers who share our vision and can help us progress through funding, financing and European co-production,” says El Amir. He notes that the film’s village scenes will be shot in southern Egypt, but “the space-themed reality TV show sequence may be shot in other co-production countries.”
Thessaloniki Film Festival will be held between 5-15 November.