Feature documentary hybrid — under development
Director, editor: Bassem Yousri
Production: Seen Films, Cairo
In December 2010, ten young amateurs gathered in Cairo to write a satirical romantic comedy challenging gender, social, and class stereotypes in mainstream cinema. Their three-month workshop was overtaken by the January 25th revolution, stretched into a year, and left the film unfinished. Nearly fifteen years later, they reunite to read the script and perform selected scenes — confronting past selves while embodying the fictional characters they once imagined.
The film unfolds through an experimental structure interlacing three storylines: the workshop’s creative debates of 2010–11; the participants’ daily lives amid revolutionary upheaval; and fiction scenes from the unfinished script, performed anew more than a decade later. With seriousness, absurdity, and humor, Film Romancy explores generational disillusionment with romance as a parallel to the unfulfilled promises of revolution.
Shown at:
— A Home for Something Unknown, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, Germany, 2024
— 15 Jahre Arabischer Frühling 2011–2026, AE Galerie, Potsdam, Germany, 2026
Bassem Yousri 