Director's Statement

This story is inspired by loss in my own family. During the ‘56 War, my grandfather received news his favorite son, an Egyptian army officer, had been killed in the Sinai by the Israeli army. Upon hearing this he was stricken with grief and suffered a stroke. He eventually recovered but people say he was never quite the same - the sorrow he felt was so intense it was as if he had lost a part of himself out in that desert. It was a sorrow that would send him to an early grave as well at age 50. Because they both died so young, I never met either of these men, and so it was up to my mother to tell me their tragic story. As a child I tried to picture them, I tried to imagine a love so deep between two human beings that it could turn into something tragic. I tried to picture a man that could be destroyed by his own grief.  

This too is a story about a father who has lost his beloved son, but here he has the unique opportunity to do something about it. He invents a way to travel back in time to stop his son from ever dying in the first place. But as he journeys back and forth to alter time, his simple plan is complicated by another man, a kind of double, taking over his present-life.

While the film fits in the sci-fi genre, it has little to do with futuristic technology and more to do with human memory, nostalgia and identity. I find these three facets of a person most fascinating and they inform all of my writing. It’s by exploring these elements as a storyteller that I’m able to resolve my own fragmented past. Here we have a main character that finds a fantastical way to repair his own past, to literally go back to his son and save him. But the price he pays for rewriting history is that he must go deeper and deeper into a nightmare and lose hold of his own identity.

“Empire” intentionally starts off with two natural enemies pitted against one another and could easily become a grand political allegory. But as the story continues we learn Musa’s greatest adversary isn’t his Israeli double, it’s himself. This film is ultimately about a man coming to terms with what he lost, a man learning to no longer be a victim of his own grief and past.  

As a child, as much as I tried to picture my grandfather and his pain, he was always a blur, a shadow of a man. Writing this story has been a way to try to understand him and how love can lead a father to sacrifice everything, even himself.

Producer's Statement

When I first read the story of “Empire” I was immediately drawn into the atmosphere and the conflict of our main character Musa. Losing a beloved one is something very difficult for anyone who stays behind, it takes a strong effort to overcome this loss. And although Musa’s way is a radical one, I can relate to him wanting to turn back the time. Who has not thought about that? Who does not regret anything? In “I Dreamt of Empire” we explore this passionate and unique story including the possibilities and challenges that arrive with it.

The film will be produced by Beleza Film, the company I have founded together with Falk Nagel in 2009 with base in Hamburg and Berlin. “I Dreamt of Empire” will be an Arabic language film being mainly produced out of Germany raising German as well as Arab funds, television and distribution partners, possibly equity. Embarking as a German producer on this project could open up another approach to Egyptian cinema.

We are looking for a coproduction partner from Egypt or possible countries like Jordan, Lebanon or Morocco. Also we are interested in meeting coproduction partners from other countries. As well we are looking for distributors, world sales and broadcasters as financiers for the project. Start of production is planned for late 2015. We are right now researching the settings for the Cairo apartment and the desert as well as other places in Egypt or other Arabic cities and substitute locations.  

MARKETING STRATEGY

I Dreamt of Empire is set in Cairo in the 1980s and in the Sinai desert in the 1950s. The images of the beautiful landscape of the desert as well as insights to the city of Cairo, including accessories and technology of the 1980s, will give the film its very unique feel, leading the audience back in time. As the story is set in the Egypt of over 30 years ago, the film pictures a different view of a country of which we see at the moment mostly films dealing with the political situation and protests. 

The story follows roughly historic events while telling the very personal story of our main character Musa who has lost his son at a very early age as a solider. Because of this highly emotional topic of “how much can a father love his son”, the film will be an emotional experience for parents, appealing to fathers than mothers alike. A lot of people have experienced this or other wars during the last decades, and some have also lost children or family members in those wars.

As the film will be produced out of Europe, we will follow mainly the classic model for the exploitation in most countries, especially in Europe starting at festivals, then cinemas, VOD and television sales. For the premiere we are aiming at A-level festivals following festivals for with a focus on debut directors. The director has participated in the Sundance and Binger lab, which can support the films promotion within the festival circuit.

The film approaches the international Arthouse 35+, a more Western-oriented audience, with addressing the niches-groups like cinephil, world cinema-lovers, and people interested in the MENA-region as well as the silver audience. We will create a transmedia project consisting of an interactive graphic novel as well as interactive website with online story-elements, complemented by a facebook page, blog posts and online discussions on the topic.