Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo
Funds Needed for Completion: $ 363,000.00
Estimated Completion Date: 04/04/2011
Synopsis
Examining the 1400 year old tradition of the call to prayer in Cairo as it faces extinction through modern technology.
Five times each day, muezzins cry out the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, from the thousands of mosques in Cairo, calling believers to each of the five daily prayers. The institution of muezzin has existed since the time of the Prophet Muhammad. The acts of the muezzin are considered an art form, reflected in the melodious chanting of the adhan. The professional muezzin is chosen to serve at the mosque for his good character, voice and skills. Although the tradition of the adhan dates back to the seventh century, recordings are limited and contain no pertinent information for future generations. Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo tells the story of the adhan in the ancient metropolis of Cairo, introducing the muezzins of this generation, and recording the adhans they recite. In 2010, the government plans to systemize the call to prayer with the Tawheed Al Adhan, or the Adhan Unification Project. Under this plan, the daily symphony of countless diverse voices will be reduced to a single pre-recorded call broadcast throughout the entire city using wireless receivers. It is necessary to document and honor this tradition before it ceases to exist. Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo creates a visual and aural portrait of a soon-to-be-lost ancient tradition in the modern world.
Budget:
$ 363,000.00
Project's Financial Needs
production funds
Other financial Support
Hartley Film Foundation, National Geographic All Roads Film Project
Current stage of production
Pre-Production
Estimated Completion Date
04/04/2011
Treatment
Narrative Synopsis
Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo will be filmed in the chronological structure of one day, following throughout the day the five daily prayers as the adhan echoes throughout the city. The film focuses on the individual and collective journeys of the people of Cairo, their daily lives, and how they step between the madness and beauty of life as they step in rhythmic time to this accidental symphony, the call to prayer.
Fajr (Dawn prayer)
The film begins with a long shot of the horizon, of birds flying over Cairo as sunrise approaches. It continues with shots of people waking up and getting ready for Fajr, or pre-dawn prayer, before their daily lives begin. The camera moves closer to a mosque in Central Cairo, the most metropolitan business and tourist district, as the city is filmed turning gradually from dark into light as the glow of the street lamps begins to blend with the illumination from the sun, then the street lamps turn off and sunlight moves in. The adhan continues quietly in the background as the interview with the muezzin of said mosque begins.
As the interview transpires, we film the muezzin first, to gain a visual understanding of the person, then move to the interior of the mosque itself to create a visual understanding of his daily life as he describes what his day consists of and talks about the history of the adhan.
Between the morning prayer and the noon prayer, we will be filming in Masr el Qadima, the area between Central Cairo and Old Cairo, interviewing different people in various neighborhoods as they go about their lives. We’ll see them going about their lives, one by one, as they move at a gradually faster pace, as if becoming part of the pace of the day as it ascends.
Dhuhr (Mid-day prayer)
Our journey through the city takes us to Amr Ibn El-Aas Mosque in the poor neighborhood of Old Cairo, the first mosque built in Egypt in 642 CE and the oldest mosque in all of Africa. Establishing shots of both the exterior and interior of the mosque will precede the interview of the muezzin working here, focusing on his life and lineage of the muezzins, as well as his personal career and feelings about his life, tradition, and country.
Pulling back another bird’s eye view before the Dhurh, or noon prayer, as the movie crescendos with the city’s 4000 mosques sounding off the call to prayer.
* * *
The camera continues to move between different neighborhoods, showing the busy lives that people have, illustrated by people walking briskly, the hustle and bustle, car horns honking and the sun going down. The film turns gradually into slow motion, the city gets quieter and more attentive as the last possibilities for work begin to disappear and people start to leave places of business and school for gathering places, home and relaxation.
‘Asr (Afternoon prayer)
Before we zero in on a mosque in Zamalek, a district filled with youth and foreigners, we zoom out to show the city from the East and facing West, capturing the layers of smog over the city, turning it into a beautiful subdued thick orange mirage filled with the day’s events as they’re about to be swallowed up by the darkness of night. People hush, and the sound of the adhan calling people for ‘Asr, the afternoon prayer begins as we sit with the people at a typical Cairo café facing a small mosque next to El-Sawy Culture Wheel, a cultural center in Zamalek.
The call of this mosque rings louder and more pronounced than that of neighboring mosques, yet the cacophony can still be heard as it would by a person in the café. As the call is concluded and people have entered the mosque to pray, we follow and focus on the ritualistic aspects of the prayer and on the different classes and types of people all of whom are praying.
This visual display is overlaid with an interview of the muezzin in which we ask him how times have changed. At the conclusion of the interview, we show the muezzin demonstrating the call to prayer for us as he explains the symbolism of ritualistic actions he performs while calling out the adhan and the ceremonial customs the people carry out before, during, and after they pray.
Maghrib (Sunset prayer)
As we move into the neighborhood of Islamic Cairo, which was the city center during medieval times, we continue to interview people going about their lives as the day moves to its close. As the sun gets ready to set, we move through the vibrant Khan el Khalili bazaar. Then, as dusk steadily approaches, the pace of the film slows down as we visit the Cities of the Dead, cemeteries that are also home to hundreds of living residents. While wandering through Islamic Cairo, we take small side streets to end up at a small neighborhood mosque devoid of the archetypal spectacular architecture, right as the sun disappears over the horizon, in time for Maghrib, the sunset prayer.
'Isha (Night prayer)
We end the day in the neighborhood of Maadi, a peaceful residential area mostly comprised of families, in which we show people coming together for supper and getting ready for sleep, with street lights and interior home lights flickering on in the darkness of evening.
We witness 'Isha, the evening prayer, from the geographical center of Cairo, overlooking the Nile and hearing the adhan build up in the distance as it moves in toward us like a wave slowly washing over us.
We eavesdrop on several families ending their day and as the film approaches its conclusion, we interview a muezzin from one of the neighborhood mosques as he is on his way home to his non-public life.
End Credits
It becomes clear throughout Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo that the call to prayer and the conjoined resonance of more than four thousand mosques brings Cairenes together while creating refining moments that enrich each of their lives as they stop to remind themselves of the purpose of their existence. These moments are purposefully created five times each day throughout the span of over twenty million people’s lifetimes, and have direct correlation to other social and spiritual rituals throughout the world.
Over end credits, clips of rituals from other traditions, including Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Baha’i, and Native American ceremonies will roll. These explored elements are shown to act as a reminder and a recollection, creating an “ah-ha” moment for the viewer, where similarities across traditions are shown, endeavoring to bridge social, religious and cultural divides.
Structure
Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo will be filmed in the chronological structure of one day, following throughout the day the five daily prayers as the adhan echoes throughout the city. The film will be shot digitally on HD video with 5.1 surround sound and has an anticipated running time of 104 minutes. It will be broadcast-ready in standard definition wide-screen format.
Cairo is an eighty-three square mile city, with a population of over twenty million. It is the biggest metropolis in Africa, freckled with myriad neighborhoods and districts, each distinct from the other, evoking fragments of Cairo's rich history. As we move through the film, we will travel from one neighborhood to another, each interview becoming more in-depth so that in whole it is one interview comprised of different people’s viewpoints.
The film will juxtapose the interviews with the muezzins and interviews of scholars and average Cairenes with the significance of Islamic architecture and decorative arts, illustrating how the patterns and geometric shapes evoke the divine and the role they play in Islamic culture.
The audio elements during non-interview sequences in the film will consist of the sounds of the city such as traffic noise, birds, local traditional music, wind blowing, and people chattering.
The long still shots and color saturation of David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia to capture the breadth and feel of Cairo combines with both slow and speeded up footage of street scenes as in Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi to create a documentary that is at once an informative and illuminating portrait of life in Cairo as well as a visual tone poem set to the rhythms and melodies of the adhan.
Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo focuses on the individual and collective journeys of the people of Cairo, their daily lives, and how they step between the madness and beauty of life in time to this accidental symphony, the call to prayer.
IMPACT
On Look Films endeavors to reach as large an audience as possible. As a documentary film, Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo impacts the viewer in three tangible ways:
Documenting History
The city of Cairo is currently preparing to systemize the call to prayer with the Tawheed Al Adhan, or the Adhan Unification Project. Under this plan, which is set to go into effect in 2010, one muezzin will recite the adhan and wireless receivers will be used to broadcast the same call throughout the city.
By capturing the adhan as well as the muezzins who perform this ancient ritual on film and through audio recording, Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo preserves 1400 years of human history about to be lost forever.
Illustrating How Technology Affects Society
As the Tawheed Al Adhan spreads through Egypt and the Arab world, it will lead not only to the end of the ancient tradition of the adhan, but also to unemployment. As technology streamlines these practices and sacrifices old traditions for efficiency and economy, it is not only the tradition itself that suffers but also its practitioners. We live in an era that sees many of its old traditions replaced by new, so called cleaner methods, especially when financial hardships promote a lenient eye toward the laying off of non-critical posts.
Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo documents the economic hardship these muezzins are soon to experience, putting a human face on the toll technological innovations can sometimes take, both for the individual and the society at large.
Bridging Cultures through Exposure and Education
By presenting an educational as well as entertaining approach to a typical day in the life of Cairo, Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo seeks to encourage understanding by presenting Cairo and the adhan called throughout the day in an accessible and visually engaging way. The goal of Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo and On Look Films is to create a cultural bridge between the East and the West, highlighting our similarities rather than focusing on our differences.
View My Website
