{"id":31355,"date":"2024-02-04T11:24:42","date_gmt":"2024-02-04T09:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/?p=31355"},"modified":"2024-02-07T15:45:42","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T13:45:42","slug":"dont-ask-me-to-reveal-my-lovers-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/dont-ask-me-to-reveal-my-lovers-name\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Ask me to Reveal my Lover\u2019s Name \u0644\u0627 \u062a\u0633\u0623\u0644\u0648\u0646\u064a \u0645\u0627 \u0627\u0633\u0645\u0647\u064f \u062d\u0628\u064a\u0628\u064a"},"content":{"rendered":"
Two years after its world premiere, Mohammad Shawky Hassan reflects on the original story that informed the making of Bashtaalak Sa\u2019at \/ Shall I Compare You to a Summer\u2019s Day?<\/a> and its evolution from a blurry memory of a day on the beach to a feature-length film.<\/em><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

Mohammad Shawky Hassan<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was one day before your last vanishing act. You had reappeared again and asked me to go into the water with you. I told you I was afraid of what I do not know. You gently placed your left hand on my right thigh and smiled. You always smiled whenever you didn\u2019t know what to say. Or perhaps you did say something too insignificant for me to even remember today.<\/p>\n

I keep returning to the same image over and over again. I can almost hear the sounds of the wind and the occasional waves, blended with the smell of the Nuweiba beach sand and the distinct scent of your wet naked skin, which I now lack the words to describe.<\/p>\n

What happened that day?<\/p>\n

On top of the image, there is a worn out post-it note, where I had jotted down what seems to be a hasty attempt at translating a line from Iman Mersal\u2019s text: \u201cIf what I remember is absent from the image, why am I trying so hard to preserve it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Why have I forgotten so many things that must have been more memorable than what I do remember? Why do I vividly remember going to the moon and back as I jealously watched you walk so gracefully into the sea, as if it were the only place you truly belonged, while listening to Hamid El Shaeri\u2019s \u062e\u062f\u0646\u064a \u0628\u064a\u0646 \u0625\u064a\u062f\u064a\u0643\u060c \u0648\u062f\u064a\u0646\u064a \u0644\u0642\u0645\u0631\u0629 \u0641\u064a \u0627\u0644\u0633\u062d\u0627\u0628<\/a>? And why have I forgotten almost everything else about that day from this moment onwards?<\/p>\n

And today, two years after the completion of Shall I Compare You to a Summer\u2019s Day?<\/em><\/a>, a film whose initial intention was to reflect on our relationship, I wonder how this image that sparked the entire project carved its way out of it so smoothly that I can no longer nail down the exact moment, day or even point in the process when it did.<\/p>\n