DREAMAWAY
Marouan Omara, Johanna Domke | Egypt, Germany, Qatar 2018 | 83 Min. | OmeU
Sharm El Sheikh, shaken by terrorist attacks, is home to a group of young Egyptians who came to the seaside resort to work in the tourist industry. Inspired by Western lifestyle they turned their lives around seeking to leave behind their own traditional cultural way of living. When a terrorist plane attack makes the tourists disappear, it is time for the young adults to take their future into their own hands and to redefine their identities. Still hoping that the tourists will return, each long eventless passing day increases the fear of a forced return to old structures the thought to have left behind. Until one day, a mysterious monkey appears in town.
Directors: Marouan Omara, Johanna Domke
Cinematography and Sound: Jakob Beurle / Bilgehan Özis
Editing: Gesa Jäger, Louly Seif
Production: Monokel, FigLeaf Studio, Fruitmarket
Screenings
41st Cairo International Film Festival, EG
Int. Programm 54th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, CZ
Documentary Competition BFI London Film Festival, GB
Documentary Competition 2nd El Gouna International Film Festival, EG
Documentary Competition 63th Internationales Leipziger Festival für Dokumentarfilm, DE
Int. Programm BIFF Bergen International Film Festival, NO
Documentary Competition 54th Chicago International Film Festival, US
Filmography as director
2018 Dreamaway, Johanna Domke & Marouan Omara, Dokumentary, WDR Co-Production, 82 min
2017 One Plus One Makes a Pharaoh’s Chocolate Cake, Marouan Omara, Documentray 37 min
2015 Azziara, Marouan Omara, Documentray, 43 min
2013 CROP Johanna Domke & Marouan Omara, Dokumentary, 48 min
Biographies
Marouan Omara and Johanna Domke have been collaborating as a directing duo since 2012. Their films are cinematic hybrids, wandering around unmarked territory between fiction and documentary. They are crafted with great intelligence and political sensibility, and a beautiful lensed magical realism. Omara received his BA in Applied Arts in Photography and holds a Diploma in Film Directing. He is a Berlinale and Durban Talents alumnus. He has been teaching Filmmaking in the Department of Arts at the AUC, and is the Managing Director of the Regional Conference for Arab Independent Cinema (RCAIC). Also He serves as a jury and curator for several film industry programs. Marouan uses cinema as a genuine mode of research, bear a dreamlike notion of the surrounding and closeness to the everyday experiences of his society.
Domke studied Fine Arts in Scandinavia and graduated in Film Directing from the Media Art Academy in Cologne. She produces projects that lie in the space where art and cinema meet, with a combined structural and socio-political approach. Domke has been an active part of the international art scene, showing her films in recognized art institutions and taking part in numerous artist in residency programs. She has been teaching in ground courses in art and photography and is writing papers on media theory. Their previous film CROP has received considerable attention at film festivals and exhibitions around the world including IFF Rotterdam, Yamagata IDFF, Jihlava IDFF, and DOK Leipzig. They have been supported by several institutions, including: La Biennale di Venezia, Hot Docs-Blue Ice Fund, IDFA Bertha Fund, and Catapult Film Fund.
