Egypt
Egypt is a film which is almost silent. A film about deaf mutes, or rather about their sign language, a language which, like the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, links the symbolic terminology of words with the mimetic and analogous representations of graphic gestures. Sober black and white scenes show how "shark", "widow", "Marilyn Monroe", a James bond sequence, a Viennese song or the account of a treasure hunt undertake by two holidaymakers in Egypt look in the sign language. It is a very modest indication, an introduction to an unfamiliar way of experiencing the world, where one sees the sounds without hearing them. (Drehli Robnik)
Kathrin Resetarits has made a very special silent film which consists of rich gestured stories in the sign language of the deaf and dumb. The translation is effected by written words, feature film sequences, voices in off and music. Here there are no extensive explanations, no "relevance justifications" simply something recorded, a successful reminiscence on the expressivity of early cinema. Something which is simultaneously commonplace and, for most people, foreign. Thus Resetarits relativizes the implicit agreement that documentaries are first and foremost concerned with the tristesse of human existence. (Isabella Reicher)
Ägypten
1997
Austria
10 min