Locally made film shares an Egyptian American dreamscape split across Pittsburgh and Cairo
PITTSBURGH — “I never told you about the dream I had,” a woman softly speaks as leaves and flowers dance in the wind. Sunlight cuts through the shadows — the scene is angelic.
Suddenly, the Pinkerton’s Landing Bridge, next to the Rivers of Steel Pump House & Water Tower, fills the frame. Then the woman, Aziza, appears, looking out across the river.
“I had it again last night. It was so … strange. I had to sing a song.”
This is “She Sings,” the latest short film by husband and wife duo Ahmed T. Ragheb and Lily Ekimian Ragheb and their Pittsburgh-based Studio Ragheb. The film premiered in April at the Athens International Film + Video Festival in Ohio, and was screened last month at the Oscar-qualifying Cairo International Film Festival. Now, the couple is looking for an opportunity to screen it in Pittsburgh, where roughly half of it was made.
Ahmed, 28, was born and raised in Cairo, where the other portion was shot, and Lily, a 27-year-old Russian American, attended high school there.
“We were really interested in making a film that spoke to people who have dual identities and that doesn’t need to be Arab American or an immigrant, but just any sort of dual identity and then this sort of fracturing of your own personality that comes with having a dual identity,” Ahmed said. “Of course, we’re looking at it through the lens of first-second generation Arab American specifically and Muslim American specifically.”
The short follows Aziza, played by Cairo-born, Chicago-based Mariam Atallah, as she shares a dreamscape split between Pittsburgh and Cairo.
“The intention behind this was to sort of compare and contrast the landscapes and textures of Egypt and the post-industrial Rust Belt area,” Lily said. “So, of Pittsburgh, but also with the immigrant-rich history that comes with the steel industry and with that location specifically. That's where those two locations kind of merge and marry, and this is all taking place in different ways of dreaming.”
The dream sequences are based on real nighttime visions the Raghebs have had themselves. The two keep dream journals, the contents of which made their way into the film, Ahmed said.
For example, in one scene, Aziza comes face to face with a singer (Daniel Knox) and asks him questions. But when she speaks, no words come out, even though the ambience of the environment is well-heard. Eventually, Aziza starts shouting with subtitles, but without sound.
“That’s a dream that had been written down — speaking and no words come out,” Ahmed said. “And in general, people who in the U.S. are second-generation immigrants, there's this kind of linguistic insecurity where you often either don't speak the language of your parents or you don't speak it as well as you think you should.
This happened to Ahmed when he was growing up, he said, and he knows of others with similar stories — they feel a cultural disconnect with their families, and that made its way into “She Sings.”
Ekimian Ragheb also said that, vitally, many among the crew of nine in Pittsburgh and 35 in Cairo who worked on the film were women.
“That’s something that was also very important to us because the film is examining dreaming broadly, but also we’re entering this female space, this woman's dream world. And to have that female gaze and to have that female representation behind the scenes was really important,” Lily said. “Our cinematographer, our colorist, our editor, our sound designer, we had women all across the board to make that a safe space.”
In terms of personnel, ‘She Sings’ marks one of largest in scale productions that Studio Ragheb has ever completed.
“I think working on a film that was more collaborative was an amazing experience for us,” Lily explained. “The song at the end was written for the film by Daniel Knox, who performs it, and he brought his own writing style and ideas to that song, that is his song. So everybody brought their own perspective.”
