The Egyptian musical movie “Lama Benetwelled” (When We Are Born) was premiered in the third edition of El Gouna Film Festival on September 21 where the crew of the film moved on the red carpet. It was selected from the festival to be the only Egyptian feature to premiere in GFF.
When we are born, each one of us has a life path, which is then influenced by how we are raised and the beliefs ingrained in us.
The film interweaves the hopes and dreams of three characters at the center of the Egyptian lifestyle, accompanied by musical narration made by the popular singer, composer, song writer and Cairokee band star Amir Eid.
The three characters are Ahmed ( Eid in his first acting experience) who yearns to pursue a singing career against his father’s will , a romantic Christian woman who is in love with a Muslim man, and a newly-wed personal trainer who must compromise his principles for a better living.
Will these characters make the best choices for themselves and the people they love? The film is written by late Nadine Shams and directed by Egyptian director Tamer Ezzat.
“Lama Benetwelled” is starring Amir Eid, Amr Abed, Sameh el-Serety, Ebtihal el-Serety, and Salma Hassan, among others.
Egypt Today sat down with Cairokee star revealing everything pertaining to his first acting experience and upcoming projects.
1- What drove you to debut your acting career now?
Frankly speaking what attracted me to participate in this film in the first place is that I will perform the movie songs, compose them and write their lyrics along with Sherif el Hawary from Cairokee. I felt enthusiastic to play this game because it represented an important challenge to me.
2- What did you learn from your first acting experience?
I learned a lot from this experience, I learnt to write and compose in a different way, and to take a certain theme from a scene and use it to write a song. I learnt also how to express a lot of things in a short period of time and to translate the vision of the director . I had the curiosity to know whether I will succeed in this experience or not.
3- Some singers were scared to debut their acting career fearing from failure how did you overcome this feeling?
I don’t have these insecurities pertaining to image and how people will perceive me because at the end of the day I do my best to be a real artist whether singer, actor or lyricist, I strongly believe that every kind of art is two kinds, for example songs is associated with video clips which is another form of art and cinema houses number of arts like in some cases literature, script writing, photographing and music. So different kinds of arts coalesce together. One of my upcoming projects is to cooperate with a painter in one of my future albums, to draw a picture to each of the album songs to be like a music gallery, each picture reflects the spirit of the song.
I like much the artistic coperations, because we develop when we meet inspiring people who significantly add to us like the movie director Tamer Ezzat , because these people are added value to any person life. I enjoy my work and I don’t care about my image and I hate the word ‘’my audience’’ because they are not mine they are free to choose whoever they want to listen to.
4- What your first acting experience added to you?
I love to enjoy my life, try new things, learn other things, maybe I succeed in some and sure will fail in others but all what I care about at the end is the experience itself. I learned a lot from my participation in ‘’Lama Bentewelled’’ movie, before this experience I was someone who is totally different from the one sitting with you now, I am now better person artistically because I learned a lot of things, I saw how the director works and how he exerts a lot of effort with everyone in the cast. I learnt from his role that any artistic work has two sides which are artistic and managerial. Acting wasn’t from my plans from the beginning but this step came when I felt that I will enjoy doing that.
5- You have future acting plans? You will repeat this experience again?
I don’t know if I will repeat this experience in the near future or not, I don’t have to take this decision now, I enjoyed watching the movie in its premiere yesterday and the positive feedbacks I got from my family and friends, but at the same time I love music so much and this year I have an idea pertaining to a music album that will require 9 months of preparations so I will not go through any acting experience until I finish it. But at the same time if there will be a project like Cairokee movie, with acting ,music and painting I will do it, also if there is a good musical project I will be enthusiastic to be part of it, I am not a football player to make a plan from the match ( he laughed) I am an artist who enjoys everything he is doing and wake up every day with a different mood so I let my feelings guide me.
6-Tell us more about the songs in the movie how did you prepare them?
There was a great harmony between me and the director Tamer Ezzat. He used to tell me we need a song reflecting this scene or that feeling and I write and compose it and every time when he listened to each of them he said yes this what I want.
7-Tell more about the cinematic experience you will make with Cairokee
We have a simple musical movie idea that we are working on, it will be directed by Adham el Sherif. The plot has nothing to do with our real story as Cairokee band this all what I can say about it now.
8- Tell us more about Cairokee next concert in Paris, all the tickets were sold out how do you feel about that?
This is the first time for Cairokee to perform in Paris, we have performed before in a number of European countries but not Paris and of course I was happy to know that all the tickets were sold out and that people are waiting for us eagerly there .After Paris we will perform in London too, it will be a musical tour. We usually make this tour every year but every year it is different, of course we will not sing with a different language because our Arabic language is the one that conveys our feelings the best.
9- Some felt that Amir character was present in all the movie songs, does your real character had an influence when you were writing and composing the film songs or you were totally in the characters?
Before I start writing and composing I got rid from everything related to Amir and I put myself in the shoes of the character I am preparing the song for, that’s why I loved this movie because in general my songs are about my life, experiences and Egypt so I was happy to change that in the movie, and write, sing and compose romantic songs which is a matter away from my comfort zone.
I learned from these movie to increase my imagination, as I don’t want to be monotone, I tried to imagine myself in the place of Amin, Sara and every character in the movie. The director Tamer Ezzat helped me a lot in every song, he used to tell me about the feeling or the message he wanted in this line or that scene, he gave me the guidelines that made my mission much easier. In general I like to try new things because I am curious to know if I will succeed in it or not. I don’t want to be that artist who is doing something good and spend the rest of his life repeating this thing. I am not afraid from failure, I want always to try new things and if I failed I will definitely learn from it.
Egypt Today
