Director Markéta Ekrt Válková visited Cairo as a guest of the first edition of Echoes of Ji.hlava in Cairo, where she personally introduced her documentary Amira’s Children and took part in a post-screening discussion with the audience. During her stay, she also led an open masterclass on documentary filmmaking, attended by students and emerging documentary filmmakers. Her visit additionally included a live interview on the Egyptian television channel Al Qahera News, where she spoke about the film. Czech Centre Cairo now looks back on her visit through a short interview reflecting on the audience’s response to the screening and her first impressions of the megacity.
Markéta, what was it like for you to screen Amira’s Children in Cairo? It has often been said that you spent ten years working on the film. How did the Cairo audience receive it?
The audience in Cairo watched the film with great attention but, to my surprise, almost without any visible emotion. During the screening, I found myself wondering whether they were truly connecting with the story.
However, the discussion afterwards proved exactly the opposite. The reception was incredibly warm.
What surprised me most was that a film made primarily for a Czech audience, rooted in a very Czech context, resonated so strongly with Egyptian viewers. This was true not only for those who had themselves fled other Arab or African countries because political or security conditions made life there impossible, but also for local audiences, who connected deeply with "our" family’s story and empathically experienced their ten-year journey.
What will you take away from your week in Cairo? Did anything surprise you?
It was my first time in Cairo, and in Egypt altogether, so I came away with many powerful impressions and experiences. It’s difficult to choose just one.
Perhaps what fascinated me most was the city’s natural multiculturalism. It seemed to me that this vibrant and undeniably complex organism is, in some ways, more self-sufficient and resilient in the face of change than our European societies. It has grown out of constant change and instability and has never lost touch with them. It knows how to respond with flexibility and independence.
As a documentary filmmaker, what advice would you give to people who are “armed” with nothing more than a smartphone and its camera?
I don’t think they necessarily need advice. Everyone should use these tools however they like.
But if any of them are planning to make films, I genuinely envy them. They belong to a generation that can immerse itself in the magic of moving images whenever it wants and experiment without limits. They can develop their visual sensitivity and immediately see what works and what doesn’t. For a talented filmmaker, this can provide an excellent foundation before moving on to mastering the broader language of cinema.
What are you working on now?
We are just finishing a film we’ve been working on for the past three years, exploring new approaches to landscape management and nature conservation in the Anthropocene. It’s a complex subject, but it doesn’t have to be a depressing one.
The film follows four remarkable protagonists who advocate controlled burn as one of the methods for addressing climate change. Besides being leading experts in their field, they also have a wonderful sense of humour. The film is titled Hasit ohněm (Fighting Fire with Fire).
Markéta Ekrt Válková (born 1973) studied at the Film School in Zlín and the Department of Documentary Film at FAMU. In addition to a number of documentaries and series for Czech Television, she also made the feature-length documentary Mára Goes to Heaven (2022) about mountaineer Marek Holeček. |
Photos
Cover photo: Screening of Amira’s Children, Markéta Ekrt Válková during the post-screening discussion © Yasser Farouk
Photo in the article: Birth of Reality in Documentary Films masterclass © Czech Centre Cairo
