Corinne van Egeraat
2021Ana Ana
Corinne van Egeraat, Petr Lom
ANA ANA is a cinematic poem about four young creative Egyptian women. Most of the material is filmed by the characters themselves, who worked with the film’s directors in a process of collaboration and mentorship over a course of two years. The four main characters find creative ways to express what is hidden within their hearts: speaking of their dreams and desires in an extraordinarily open and intimate way, and using metaphors, and cinematic storytelling to transform the every-day struggles of their lives into the sublime. Set in the overwhelming chaos of Cairo, the film also oscillates back and forth between an empty and abstract desert, which might be real or unreal.
Ana Ana
Bridging the Gap
Katja Draaijer, Corinne van Egeraat
Twenty-six-year-old Daniel Knoop is, as he phrases it at the beginning of the film, a member of a spoiled generation of 'paper idealism'. He chooses to put his idealism into practice, and travels to Cameroon as a development-aid worker, as part of a UN project involving the exploitation of natural resources. But can Daniel make a difference in a world that is obviously not his, not in the last place because his homosexuality is punishable there? Van Egeraat followed the level-headed man from Groningen for over a year for this intimate, layered portrait, a period in which Knoop's idealism is thoroughly put to the test, both in the professional and personal sphere. The film smoothly transects these two layers, so the professional struggles (with corrupted local authorities and the impeding bureaucracy of international relief organisations) are coloured by Daniel's personal doubts and frustrations.
Bridging the Gap
