SIROCCO (aka “SHLUQ”)
A council of remarkable men gathers to investigate a mysterious death. Awakening on a desert seashore, their hired detective encounters a sinking ship, anthropomorphic camels and lizards, aqueous sand and sky, living Egyptian ruins, women shrouded in black, and a decrepit beggar pleading for mercy—before ultimately realizing he has been investigating his own demise.
Inspired by the visionary collages of Joseph Cornell, Sirocco uses readymade imagery as a gesture in Mannerist cinematic expression. Recontextualizing scenes from Shadi Abdel Salam’s The Night of Counting the Years (The Mummy), the film constructs a dreamlike world balancing restrained naturalism with heightened visual beauty.
Exhibition
World Premiere: Sundance Film Festival (In Competition, 2012)
16 min (2012)