Asmahan

2014  — 
 completed

The Unbearable Presence of Asmahan

AUT / QA 2014, 71 min, HD
Mischief Films

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.

DirectorAzza El-Hassan
CameraJoerg Burger
SoundHjalti Bager-Jonathansson
EditorMarek Kralovsky
ProducerRalph Wieser
Production managementDavid Bohun
In Co-Production withORF, Al Jazeera
In Association withSRF
Supported byFernsehfonds Austria, Filmfonds Wien, MEDIA Programme of the European Union, Austrian Federal Country of Lower Austria, City of Vienna/PID Vienna (Press and Information Service)
LanguagesGerman/English/Arabic
SubtitlesEnglish

Awards

  • Second Best Documentary, Beirut International Filmfestival 2015 


    Festivals

    • Carthage Filmfestival, Tunis, Tunesia 2014
      • Arab Film Festival Amman, Jordania 2015
        • FIFFS – Festival International du Film de Salé, Marocco 2015
          • Yamagata Film Festival, Japan 2015
            • Beirut Film Festival, Lebanon 2015

              Presskit



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