Bassem Yousri

All the Important Issues, 2008 – 2012

Videos & Films

Video, 16 min, HDV, 2008–2012

All the Important Issues was made as part of the installation of the same name (2009), and also stands alone as a film.

All the Important Issues — silent looping excerpt
All the Important Issues — silent looping excerpt

All the Important Issues is a series of idiotic lectures. I perform a manic character of my own invention: Mr. Mokhtar (literally translates to English as ‘the chosen one’) — a self-proclaimed activist of great importance who has urgent messages to deliver to an audience that exists only in his imagination. Mr. Mokhtar is an alter ego: a figure born from a genuine desire to shake things up, filtered through absurdity, despair, and relentless self-importance.

The full video is available upon request via private link.

Mr. Mokhtar leaning forward mid-lecture — “A great debacle…”
Mr. Mokhtar with hand raised — “How come nobody is taking any action?”
Mr. Mokhtar in menacing close-up — “People have to act…”
Mr. Mokhtar snarling — “A dangerous situation…”
Mr. Mokhtar open-mouthed — “a dangerous condition”
Mr. Mokhtar with finger to his temple — “If we try to think”
Mr. Mokhtar wide-eyed — “It is really worth the trying…”
Mr. Mokhtar biting into a cucumber on a street
Mr. Mokhtar looking up — “I pour the tea from the teapot!”
Mr. Mokhtar smiling — “Yes!”
Mr. Mokhtar in wide-eyed close-up — “Why?”
Mr. Mokhtar — “Al Pacino!”
Extreme close-up of Mr. Mokhtar’s wide-open eyes
Mr. Mokhtar looking weary — “I can’t talk to you today.”
Mr. Mokhtar — “I will talk to you tomorrow.”
Mr. Mokhtar looking upward — “Happiness!”
Mr. Mokhtar — “and it is such a wonderful feeling!”
Mr. Mokhtar wide-eyed with a fork raised — “committing suicide!”