Filmmaker: Mariam Ferjani

الإدعاء Al Ediâa (The Claim) by Youssef Rakha

Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker:

Another great film adaptation from Mariam Ferjani of a poem by Youssef Rakha, whose blog post of the video includes an English translation by Robin Moger:

My thinnest girlfriends always complain
Of gaining weight, which confuses me
When I think of fat girls.
But then I remember
That I’ve never suffered from loving my lover,
Except when it provides a good excuse to leave her,
And I reflect that things are less important
Than they seem, if we look at them
Long-term,
Which eases my terror a little.
So I say to myself that the world is really like this:
The thin fear fat,
The fat love food,
Lovers never suffer for the right reasons
And everything does not ride
On everything.

The Vimeo description includes a full list of credits in English:

Text: Youssef Rakha
Screen Adaptation: Mariam Alferjani
Actors: Alaeddine Slim – Mariam Alferjani
Photography: Alaeddine Slim – Mariam Alferjani
Producers: Kamel Laaridhi – Alaeddine Slim
Editing: Mariam Alferjani

شتوي Shatwi/Shitwi (Wintry) by Youssef Rakha

Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker:

Mariam Ferjani’s “Screen adaptation/reinterpretation of the short poem by Youssef Rakha,” an Egyptian writer and photographer. The description on Vimeo includes a translation, which I’m guessing is by the author:

Woman wants eternity
Man wants heaven
And sometimes, not often
In the meeting of their desires
They become a cloud
And sometimes, even less often
They actually die
Before it rains
So that the world stays dry
And everything is alright