Marina of the Zabbaleen
Encyclopedia
Marina of the Zabbaleen is a 2008 award-winning documentary film
written and directed by Engi Wassef that examines the life of Marina, a 7-year-old Egypt
ian girl living in a Zabbaleen
garbage-collecting village in Cairo
. The film debuted at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
with sold-out screenings. The film piqued the interest of many movie goers with its poignant tagline, "Garbage and God are the only options: plight of Christians peasants in Cairo."
The film transforms the gritty landfill Zabbaleen village (known locally as "Garbage City"), one of the very few Coptic Christian communities in a mostly Muslim-populated Cairo, into a beautiful, dreamlike portrait of family, childhood, and spirituality.
The film introduces us to the intricate world of seven-year-old Marina, the middle child in a family of five, a girl who, despite the decaying ghetto she lives in, spends her days riding flying elephants and befriending mystical pigeons. She dreams of becoming a doctor.
. The film was hailed as a gorgeous and "painterly" account of the troubled daily life of an obscure but revealing Middle Eastern people.
It was an official selection for the following festivals in 2008-2009:
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
written and directed by Engi Wassef that examines the life of Marina, a 7-year-old Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian girl living in a Zabbaleen
Zabbaleen
The Zabbaleen are a minority religious community of Coptic Christians who have served as Cairo's informal garbage collectors for approximately the past 70 to 80 years. Zabbaleen means "Garbage people" in Egyptian Arabic...
garbage-collecting village in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
. The film debuted at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
with sold-out screenings. The film piqued the interest of many movie goers with its poignant tagline, "Garbage and God are the only options: plight of Christians peasants in Cairo."
Synopsis
The film is set in the Moqattam village, on the outskirts of Cairo, where Coptic Christians from rural Upper Egypt make their living as garbage collectors and recyclers. Moqattam is a toxic shantytown where mountains of trash stand in filthy contrast to the nearby Great Pyramids. Here, the impoverished but industrious locals earn their living by bundling and reselling paper, and raising pigs amidst the rotting refuse. Very few of the youngsters raised ever receive a proper education.The film transforms the gritty landfill Zabbaleen village (known locally as "Garbage City"), one of the very few Coptic Christian communities in a mostly Muslim-populated Cairo, into a beautiful, dreamlike portrait of family, childhood, and spirituality.
The film introduces us to the intricate world of seven-year-old Marina, the middle child in a family of five, a girl who, despite the decaying ghetto she lives in, spends her days riding flying elephants and befriending mystical pigeons. She dreams of becoming a doctor.
Making of the film
Wassef was granted an unprecedented degree access to the normally very isolated and secretive city, filming everything from its trash-strewn streets to its immaculate churches that have been pridefully carved into the surrounding sacred mountains by the locals. She attributed this to the trust she had built with the local people, aided, perhaps, by the fact that like the Zabbaleen, she too is a Coptic Christian of Egyptian background. With time, the people of Moqattam become comfortable enough with her and her camera to allow her to film honest, complete views of their typical daily lives.Reception
Banned in Egypt, Marina of the Zabbaleen premiered in April 2008 at the Tribeca Film FestivalTribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
. The film was hailed as a gorgeous and "painterly" account of the troubled daily life of an obscure but revealing Middle Eastern people.
It was an official selection for the following festivals in 2008-2009:
- Tribeca Film FestivalTribeca Film FestivalThe Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
- Dubai International Film FestivalDubai International Film FestivalThe Dubai International Film Festival is an international film festival based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Launched in 2004, it aims to foster the growth of filmmaking in the Arab world.-Overview:...
- National Geographic DC Environmental Film Festival
- Jerusalem International Film Festival
- Lighthouse International Film Festival
- Onghiara International Film Festival
- Salem Film Festival
- Sea Studios Film Festival
- Thessaloniki International Film Festival
- Vancouver International Film Festival
- Beloit International Film Festival
Awards
- It won Silver Muhr (the 2nd place) for "Best Documentary" and "Best Arabic Documentary" at the Dubai International Film FestivalDubai International Film FestivalThe Dubai International Film Festival is an international film festival based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Launched in 2004, it aims to foster the growth of filmmaking in the Arab world.-Overview:...
(DIFF).
Sources
- http://www.movingpicturesmagazine.com/featuredarticles/guestcontributor/engiwassef_marinaofthezabbaleen Moving Pictures Magazine: 'Zabbaleen' Through a Child’s Eyes]
- Rotten Tomatoes page of the film