Egyptian filmmaker Ayman El Amir, who co-directed the groundbreaking, Cannes prize-winning documentary “The Brink of Dreams,” is developing his next feature, “A Pair of Shoes in the Dark Corner of the Moon.” The satirical comedy is among the projects that will be taking part in the Crossroads Co-Production Forum of the Agora, the industry arm of the Thessaloniki Intl. Film Festival.
Set in a remote Egyptian village, the film follows George, a quirky Coptic dreamer who’s desperate to be a famous actor but is stuck playing an extra in low-budget films. As his village is promised a sewage mega-project, George also catches a miraculous break on a space-themed reality TV show promising a voyage to the moon. Overnight, he becomes a celebrated national hero.
But when the show is exposed as a scam, George becomes a laughingstock. Returning home in disgrace and exiled by his community, he discovers the village’s promised project was also an illusion. The failed star embarks on a journey of self-discovery, uncovering his true identity, finding a profound sense of belonging and reclaiming a 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 their Cairo-based shingle Felucca Films. The duo co-directed “The Brink of Dreams,” which won the Golden Eye Award for best documentary at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024 — the first Egyptian film ever to be honored with that prize. The pair was also named Variety MENA Talent of the Year.
Speaking to Variety in Thessaloniki, El Amir explains how his film explores a precarious moment in Egyptian history, a period of “unregulated capitalism” where the government’s lavish visions of a “New Republic” have given way to “new satellite cities, massive highways, grandiose bridges, extravagant beach resorts and new upmarket luxurious gated cities” — an unattainable reality for the millions of ordinary people living on the margins of this ambitious “Egyptian Dream.”
The film, says the director, asks the question: “How do you plan a future that is not in your control?”
“In a society where we only discuss failure as a precursor to success, ‘A Pair of Shoes in the Dark Corner of the Moon’ is a contemporary dark comedy fable that satirizes our obsession with success and fame at all costs,” El Amir says.
“At its core, this film explores the boundaries of aspiration in contemporary Egyptian society, the invisible barriers that block out dreams of equality, opportunity and self-made success. It’s a deeply reflective story about identity, belonging and how we perceive ourselves,” he continues. “Yet beneath those layers, it’s about the sudden, jarring realization of stepping out from under a predetermined gaze and finally being witnessed as you truly are.”
“The Brink of Dreams” was a coming-of-age story that followed the Panorama Barsha Troupe, an all-female theater group in a remote village in southern Egypt who take to the streets to act out their plays denouncing underage marriage, domestic violence and patriarchy in a deeply conservative society.
Ayman El Amir and Nada Riyadh co-directed “The Brink of Dreams.”
Courtesy Ahmed Ismail Mousa
With “A Pair of Shoes,” El Amir returns to Barsha, where he spent several years while making his previous film. There, he says, the punishing realities of daily life — “an unforgiving sun, a parched earth and a high unemployment rate and a failed economy” — stand in stark contrast to the glitzy narrative of a “New Egypt.”
It is this “unexplored and unseen” version of Egypt that he wants to bring to the screen.
“One of the important motivations for me to embark on this new project is what I experienced upon the theatrical distribution of ‘The Brink of Dreams,’” he explains. During audience Q&As for what was the first Egyptian documentary ever to be distributed commercially in the country, El Amir was “surprised by the stereotypes the audience” — city-dwellers from Cairo and Alexandria — “have about their fellow citizens who live in the south.
“During the last decade, Egyptian cinema became predominated by images of people living in luxury compounds and gated communities that represents only less than 10% of Egyptian society,” he says. “We rarely see people from the south on screen. For me, that is a question 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 initial financing in place and plans to shoot at the end of 2028. The project was recently awarded at the CineGouna Industry Platform, where it received a $10,000 grant from Arab Radio & Television and a $10,000 production grant from ESLSCA University.
“Our primary goal at Thessaloniki is to connect with strategic European and international co-producers who share our vision and can help us navigate funding, financing and European co-production avenues,” says El Amir. He notes that while the film’s village scenes will be shot on location in the south of Egypt, “the space-themed reality TV show sequence can be shot in any other co-production countries.”
The Thessaloniki Film Festival runs Nov. 5 – 15.