On Presidents & Superheroes

The A77A Project: On Presidents & Superheroes is a 2009, 4-minutes experimental video animation work by Egyptian-French visual artist and filmmaker Khaled Hafez. The work depends on material extracted from the Internet representing Cairo and other cities that looks the same vis-à-vis the urban visuals and dynamics. The work was the video entry prizewinner at the 9th Bamako Photo Biennale, Mali, 2011, awarded by Fondation Blachere, France. 

Synopsis
The work is a 2-D and 3-D animation on video and still footage of a figure of Hafez’s favourite of all ancient Egyptian deities: Anubis. The figure dwells in the streets of urban Cairo today, intermingling with street paradoxical citizens and situations. The work ironically documents the current urban –particularly architectural-- state of the streets of Cairo, once described as one of the most beautiful early twentieth century “downtowns” in the world. Hafez proposes during the 4 minutes of the animated work reflection on the social and economic challenges facing many communities in the globalized world.


Info
Single-channel video
2 & 3-D animation, internet-extracted images, video footage & music score
Year of production: 2009
Sound recordings of president Nasser mingled with music score.
Prizewinner 9th Bamako Photo Biennale, Mali 2011.

Credits
Concept and script: Khaled Hafez
Sound design and music score: Ahmed Mostafa Saleh
2-D and 3-D animation: Ahmed El Shaer
Copyrights: Khaled Hafez

Public Screenings:
Artos Foundation, Nicosia Cyprus, 2009
LUMEN_EX Digital Awards, Spain, 2010 (Nomination)
17th African Film Festival, New Museum, NY, USA 2010
9th Bamako Photo Biennale, Mali, 2011 (Prizewinner)
15th International Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Switzerland, 2011
IFA Gallery, Arab Film Festival, Berlin, Germany, 2011
41st International Film Festival Rotterdam 2012
Cornerhouse Art Center, Manchester, UK, 2012
International Documentary Film Festival, Centre George Pompidou, Paris, France, 2012
3rd Mardin Biennale, Turkey,