Remarkable men gather in a council to investigate a mysterious death. Their hired detective awakens on the seashore by the desert to find a ship sinking, anthropomorphic camels and lizards, aqueous sand and sky, living Egyptian ruins, women shrouded in black, and a decrepit beggar who asks for mercy. Finally, the detective realizes he’s been investigating his own death.
Inspired by the films of Joseph Cornell, the readymade images of SIROCCO are a gesture in Mannerist cinematic expression meant to give new meaning to the images of Chadi Abdel Salam’s film “The Mummy” (1969) and to stage a film world that is built in direct relation to images of restrained naturalism and heightened beauty.
World Premiere: Sundance Film Festival, in competition, 2012.