Private Project

The Unbearable Presence of Asmahan

As times harden in the Arab world, people have begun to recall the greatest diva of all time: Asmahan, the Syrian princess who emigrated to Egypt in the twenties and became an entertainer. Today, traces of the Cairo that Asmahan once loved are difficult to find in the blanket of apathy that weighs on the city.
It was in Cairo that Asmahan sang her famous song “Euphoric Nights in Vienna”(1944), in which she manufactured an Arab fantasy for the European city. Today, many Arabs go to Vienna in search of the dream whispered to them by the greatest diva.

But things are not quite that simple. Asmahan is not the angel everyone imagines her to be. Behind her angelic face are dark secrets, and it is time we stopped being manipulated by Asmahan’s unbearable presence.

  • Azza El-Hassan
    Director
    Always, Look Them in the Eyes / Kings & Extras
  • Azza El-Hassan
    Writer
  • Ralph Wieser
    Producer
  • Joerg Burger
    DOP
  • Hjalti Bager-Jonathansson
    Sound Master
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 11 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 19, 2014
  • Production Budget:
    290,525 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Austria
  • Country of Filming:
    Austria, Egypt, Syrian Arab Republic
  • Language:
    Arabic, German
  • Shooting Format:
    HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Beirut International Filmfestival 2015 

    Beirut
    October 16, 2015
    Aleph - Award for Second Best Documentary Award
  • Carthage Film Festival
    Tunesia
    September 15, 2015
  • Yamagata Film Festival 2015
    Japan
    October 10, 2015
Director Biography - Azza El-Hassan

Azza El-Hassan holds an MA in Television Documentary, from GoldSmiths College, University of London (1995) and a BA in Film and Television Studies and Sociology from Glasgow University, Scotland (1994).

Azza El-Hassan work has been produced and shown by various international TV networks such as BBC, arte, YLE, ARD and many others. It has also been screened in film festivals and art venues around the world like, Yamamgata Documentary Film Festival (Japan), International Film Festival IDFA (Holland), Leipzig (Germany) and many others.

She is currently developing her first fiction film which it’s script has received a development award at the Berlinale Talent Co‐Production Market, 2009. The script has also received an award at Carthage Film Festival 2008.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Asmahan, a princess who turned into an entertainer, a spy who died a mysterious death. “The Unbearable Presence of Asmahan” is more than a biographical narrative of Asmahan’s life, depicting her problematic relationship with the West: although loving the West, she resented its interference in the Arab world.
As I grew up in the Middle East and have lived and worked in the West, this project touches me personally. I have seen many films which portray Western Orientalism in relation to the East: how the West sees the Orient. How it desires , fears and rejects it. But “The Unbearable Presence of Asmahan” is about about the Eastern perception of the West. It examines how the Arab world fantasizes about the West, while simultaneously fighting it and rejecting its interference.