The Everyday Ritual of Solitude Hatching Monkeys

The hallmark of Basim Magdy’s work is the seamless interweaving of times past, present and future, through the layering of images and text. His film reflects on the role of an individual within society and unfolds around a story of a man who leaves the society to which he belongs to start anew, only to find himself abandoned as others leave for the beach. During a random phone call he speaks of his fear of the beach and the sea, feelings of emptiness, hope and failure, and a yearning to know what future a prophecy might foretell. The bright imagery hardly corresponds with the uncanny story, creating a sense of disconnect and disorientation. The film is reminiscent of a notion of a suspended time in relation to the irony of ‘revolution’, like a recurring dream where one can never reach one’s destination. Or in the words of the protagonist: “Tell me, how do you deal with the relentless repetition of reality?”