LIGHT UPON LIGHT, World Premiere, CPH:DOX
New film by Christian Suhr and Hassala Films
We are happy to announce the world premiere of the feature documentary “Light upon light” at CPH:DOX.
“Light upon light” seeks to attend to the luminosity of life in a time of darkness and political turmoil. The film was jointly produced by Christian Suhr (associate professor at IMC and the Department of Anthropology, AU) and the Egyptian film collective Hassala Films between 2014-22.
Christian Suhr (director), Muhammad Mustapha (editor and script), Amira Mortada (photographer), and Hala Lotfy (producer) will present the film at the premiere.
March 24, 21:30: Cinemateket Carl (PREMIERE)
March 29, 17:30: Urban 13
March 31, 15:45: Nordisk Film Dagmar
April 3, 16:15: Cinemateket Carl
LIGHT UPON LIGHT
— Hassala Films and Persona Film, 2022, 78 min
A philosophical field trip from Cairo, along the Nile and into the desert in search of what light means as a religious concept in post-revolutionary Egypt.
One day, his Egyptian friend gave Danish anthropologist Christian Suhr a good piece of advice: Stop focusing on all the darkness in the world, and look at the light instead. Tired of studying the tensions between Muslim and Western world views in Europe, Suhr began to study religious experiences of light in post-revolutionary Egypt. Seven years later, Suhr is ready with a gifted and original film that, through human encounters and an open mind – and with a personal trauma lurking in the background – takes us to Cairo, along the Nile and into the desert to understand what light means to the people he meets along the way. Through conversations and observations of breathtaking Muslim rituals, the light slowly breaks through and nuances the image of a religion and a political culture often viewed with prejudice and reduced to simplistic clichés.