Dreamaway

Name: Dreamaway
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2018
Duration: 86 min

Johanna Domke
Marouan Omara

Rights:

Highlights

Received many grants, including the Spring Grant 2014 – Development Stage from the Doha Film Institute, Catapult Film Fund – Development Stage, Hot Docs-Blue Ice Group Documentary Fund, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie Prize, IDFA Bertha Europe Fund, and the Berlinale Talents Doc Station Prize. The film was supported by the WDR, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, and the Beirut Cinema Platform.

2018/ Egypt - Germany - Qatar86 min/ Documentary

Original Title

Al Helm El Bae’ed

SYNOPSIS

Representing freedom and easy cash, Sharm El Sheikh has long been a dream destination for Egyptian youth. Recently, terror attacks have brought tourism in the resort town to a halt. Dreamaway follows a group of young employees of a luxury hotel compound, where clichés and stereotypes of Western and Oriental cultures clash. This carousel-like experience elevates the youths into a dreamlike state.

CREW

Screenwriter: Johanna Domke
Marouan Omara
DOP: Jakob Beurle
Editor: Gesa Jäger
Louly Seif

Production Company(ies)

Monokel
Fig Leaf Studio
Fruitmarket Kultur und Medien

Producer(s)

Roman Roitman
Mark Lotfy
Arne Birkenstock

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech Republic

El Gouna Film Festival, Egypt

Chicago International Film Festival, US

Bergen International Film Festival, Norway

Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), Egypt

BFI London Film Festival, UK

Sharm El-Sheikh Asian Film Festival (SAFF), Egypt

Beirut Cinema Days, Lebanon

The Bronze Prize for Best Artistic Contribution at the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF), Egypt

The Critics’ Choice Award at the Fribourg International Film Festival, Switzerland

Reviews

Charlie Phillips - The Guardian

Meredith Taylor - Filmuforia

Nick Mastrini - cineuropa

Paulo Portugal - cineuropa

Quotes

“Omara and Domke seamlessly move from real life to magical realist semi-scripted sequences, in which their characters are urged by a monkey in a truck to dramatically reveal their feelings.” Charlie Phillips - The Guardian

“Dream Away is a melancholic portrait of a young generation left to fight for a new identity…” Meredith Taylor - Filmuforia

“In one sense, Dream Away almost portrays a different, alternative life, teetering between reality and dreams, on a similar level to the elements of reality found in Sean Baker’s The Florida Project, about the unwanted people living on the outskirts of Disney World.” Paulo Portugal - cineuropa