Sometimes you randomly see a portrait, listen to a song or get subjected to an inspirational work of art and you never imagine in a million years that behind its idea, is an Egyptian!Egyptian artists here have potential, talent and determination beyond what we set for them. Just like the creative, Mohamed Adeeb.
A couple of weeks ago, I came across a short movie under the name of Khamsa geneh (five pounds). I was overwhelmed by the message behind the movie, its camera movement, the music, the actors’ professionalism and most importantly the twist in the plot.
I researched to find that Mohamed Adeeb was behind this amazing masterpiece that won 10 awards and traveled all the way to Cannes Film Festival.
As I sat down with the modest, inspiring Adeeb, I found out that six years ago the idea of the movie came to Adeeb by mere coincidence. He was chatting with his ex-boss about ideas for movies that revolved around a mother and a son. On the spot, Adeeb came up with this genius idea and threw it in the middle of the conversation.
“Afterwards, I wrote the idea down in a script and it was the first one I have ever sold. My ex-boss bought it and I totally forgot about it. Years later, I found ‘Creative Lab’ where you send your script and they produce your movie if they like it.”
Adeeb gave it a shot and sent his script to creative lab and again totally forgot about it. He was not very optimistic as creative lab is part of a huge Emirati company who mostly supports Emiratis. A year later, Creative Lab called Adeeb, congratulating him and inviting him to Dubai, they wanted to produce his movie!
Get the opportunity to see 5 pounds and interpret it your way prior reading all about it:
The movie reveals the struggle of a son that goes through caretaker syndrome, who takes care of a patient (his mother) and eventually does not take care of himself. The son in the movie, Ahmed Al-Fishawy does not get good sleep, has no job, has no life as his uttermost concern is his mother. Safeya Al-Emari, the mother in the movie suffers from Alzheimer’s and has already forgot her own son.
“Both of the actors were amazing in every way, they did not get paid for their roles, which was extremely touching. I am quite lucky I have worked with them and I enjoyed it very much.” Adeeb added.
Adeeb chose the mother to be a character that is not that old or has white hair, one who most of the viewers would sympathize with; on the other hand he wanted the character to be a good looking lady who used to be an icon in the society. This pinpoints the fact that anyone could be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and never even knows about it.
“In the movie, I give space to the audience to start questioning the ethics of the son. Is it right or wrong to secretly drug his mother? I also wanted people to be in the mother’s shoes, thinking that this man is going to harm her any second.” Adeeb explained.
Here’s a glimpse of the making of 5 pounds, a little bit behind the scenes:
Adeeb thinks that most of the people are normally going to assume that the son is a killer and that is because naturally people assume the bad before the good. Overall, the twist of the movie was extremely surprising and exquisite.
Adeeb graduated from the American University in Cairo, majoring in Broadcast. After he graduated, he went to Los Angeles where he studied scriptwriting at the University of Southern California. Since then, Adeeb knew he wanted to become part of the world of cinema and scriptwriting became his passion.
“My experience at the states was beneficial because I learned that you could study how to write a script or its format but it’s up to the writer to be good or not. It’s either you get it or you don’t.” Adeeb said.
Upon his return to Egypt, Adeeb worked as an assistant producer in T-Vision Company where he gained a lot of experience in the production field. This triggered in Adeeb the preference for the creative side of the business, being a script writer or a director was what he truly wanted.
“I always wanted to be a director. I once took a course at AUC with a professor who allowed us to shoot a movie as a project about literally anything. I admired the freedom he gave us and the support he backed all his students with.” said Adeeb.
Adeeb also worked as an assistant director in the famous Ramadan’s soap opera, Bab El Khala’. Even though it was not that much of a creative leap for Adeeb, it was something he enjoyed much more than production and found it more interesting. Adeeb’s directing enthusiasm was never based on courses, he self-taught himself through books and through his experiences in the field.
A talent definitely worth the acknowledgement, Mohamed Adeeb has also written and co-directed another short movie under the name “The Dawn”. Adeeb is now working on different films that he wrote. He has written a film about neighborhood watchers during the revolution that is going to be independent and another film about the rural areas in Egypt.
