Courtesy of Kim Beamish[/caption]
Australian director Kim Beamish puts the finishing touches on his new documentary film looking at the challenges faced by Egypt’s khayamia craftworkers post 2011
By Sherif Awad
Ask the average Egyptian moviegoer what they know about the Australian cinema industry and the answers you get will likely be limited to “Mad Max, Mel Gibson, Russell Crowe” and of course “Nicole Kidman.” But even die-hard movie buffs in Egypt might not know that one Australian-born filmmaker is currently living and working right here in Cairo.
Prior to his arrival in Egypt, Kim Beamish completed a graduate degree in film and television at the Victorian College of Arts in 2001. After working with Melbourne’s Open Channel Co-Op, he released his debut Just Punishment which revolves around a drug smuggler sentenced to death in Singapore. The feature documentary was aired on the Australian ABCTV, and was nominated for an ATOM Award in 2007. Beamish went on to work on several projects down under before moving to Cairo in 2012 when his wife, who works for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, was transferred to Egypt.
Beamish has just wrapped up work on a new documentary film looking at the local khayamia (tentmakers) industry. Yet the story behind the premise of The Tentmakers of Chareh El Khiamiah goes back to before Beamish’s move to Egypt.
“During my work in Australia, I was introduced to Dr. Robert Bowker, a specialist on Middle East and Islamic issues at the Australian National University who was once the Ambassador to Egypt from 2005 to 2008,” explains Beamish. “I was asking him about stories and people he might know. His words and memories introduced me to the tentmakers of Cairo before I even arrived. His wife, Jenny Bowker, who is a visual artist and quilter moving back and forth between Cairo and Canberra, took me to Bab Zuweila and El-Khayamia Street where all the tentmakers work. It was only three days after I arrived with my wife in Cairo. Jenny has been working and building up a good friendship with them for eight years, they even call her “Omm El-Khayamia” or The Mother of Tentmakers.”
To gain the confidence of the local tentmakers, Beamish went to visit them and spent some time at their shops without a camera. During the following visits, the filmmaker started to bring his photographic camera then his video camera in order to shoot the documentary. Each of the tentmaker’s shops opens out onto the street like a cocoon of color bursting against the backdrop of dust and dirt of the street. The men sit on long benches in the doorway, one foot protruding from underneath a large piece of yellow canvas, a plank of plywood acting as a backrest. Each hunched over, quickly placing accurate stitches into ornate Islamic designs easily found in the mosques and ancient buildings that crowd the surrounding area.
Beamish, who filmed, directed and produced the film, crowd-sourced the initial $20,000 funding needed to “interview many of the stitchers on [Khayamia Street] about the recent changes in the street since the introduction of cheap printed fabrics and the effects the Egyptian revolution has had on the street.” The project, which revolves around “the four main protagonists of the film, Hossam, his brother Ekramy, and two stitchers Hany and Tarek” and their struggles to preserve their crafts and feed their families in the aftermath of the January 25 Revolution four years ago, involved hours of time spent “in their shops, workshops and homes getting to know them, their families and their communities.” Beamish also spent time with “contemporary artists as well as textile artists and quilters who have and are being inspired by this uniquely Egyptian art form.”
To make the documentary as close to real life as possible Beamish decided to forgo background music altogether. “I did not ask for the services of a music composer because I wanted to captivate the audience by the normal noise of the streets of Cairo,” says the director. “Usually music can drive the emotions of film audiences in one unidirectional way which is something I did not want.”
Something Beamish did want his feature-length documentary to capture was the human side of the otherwise commercial Khayamia Street. “The Tentmakers of Chareh El Khiamiah starts its journey in a rundown, noisy, dusty ancient souk, or market, in Old Islamic Cairo. Throughout, the film focuses on the human side of [the street. It is all about] the real Egypt, about traditions, history and community — a small street of businessmen who have been competing in a ruthless world of Egyptian commerce for decades. There is gossip, grudges and vindictiveness, whilst at the same time these men always stand side by side when challenged and help those in need.”
The Tentmakers of Chareh El Khiamiah was released in December 2014 and Beamish has already submitted his documentary to a number of festivals but is yet undecided about a second documentary on the industry.
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