"Here or Elsewhere"

What is the city for an expatriate? How to see it? How to react to its noise? How to wrestle between two different worlds?
The film tries to answer this by following the journey of two girls who are very similar in their circumstances, without knowing each other but gathering one suffering and passion for cinema.
Although the conflicts and suffering are similar, the stability decision is different.
We explore together the authentic lives of expatriates in Cairo and their struggles, which do not end... We are facing the journey of cinephiles between loss and stability

  • Project Title (Original Language):
    "هنا أم هناك.."
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography

I am Gehad Alam Eldin, born in 2000 in Mansoura, Dakahlia. I'm a graduate of the Faculty of Mass Communication (TV & Radio department) at Cairo University. And also from the Arab Film & TV School.

In 2017, I began photography and have been working on personal projects such as "places I have roamed" about my life in Cairo, trying to discover what home means. I developed a strong interest in Visual Anthropology after attending a workshop with Farah Hallaba on the (In our neighborhood) project. As soon as I moved to Cairo, that relationship unfolded. Cinema was my window into this vast world and helped me understand myself and my surroundings. It was my only friend in this big strange city. When I felt alone, I walked as far as I could. I ended up in the place closest to my heart, where I was comfortable being me and nobody could watch my tears and emotions. You know that feeling of not belonging in this world, but as soon as you step into the cinema, it's like entering another world. Hours pass until the movie is over and the lights are on. Now I'm ready to go outside, and not afraid. I see the world differently, smiling at passersby, and not being afraid. I've always believed in movie revivals. And that's when I started wanting to make films. Films that touch the soul of the person who watches them or reveal something that unites us all. We all love and fear the same way, even if some simple things are different.

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Director Statement

“Here or Elsewhere” is the project that has accompanied me since I moved from Mansoura to Cairo in 2018 to study at the Faculty of Mass Communication.

Since I discovered my love for cinema four years ago, my personality has changed significantly. My affection for the cinema increased once I moved to this big city, so the cinema became like my dedicated and affectionate friend.

I have always wanted to make a film for the girls of the provinces who come to study or work in Cairo, as we are the most digested girls and their rights to turn around their problems or celebrate their successes in an unreceptive, oppressive society, even though we live in one country!

By documenting the city's beauty and cruelty, I will try to answer several internal questions, including What drives us to settle in one place and abandon another? How do art and film help us understand our troubled feelings? How do expatriates in Cairo adapt to city life and confront daily conflicts? What is the result of the maturity test and the decision taken?