SHARIEF ZOHAIRY
PANDEMIC
In modern standard Arabic, the pandemic is translated as Al-Ga’hah, which is pronounced Al-Gayhah in Egyptian Arabic; the colloquial Egyptian pronunciation tends to smooth the characteristic and specific bumpy sound for daily conversations. Yet, during the COVID-19 lockdown, this phonetic trick became useless and the whole metaphor was jammed with Al-Waleed among others. Facing the sudden loss of his smell and taste senses, he tries to hold maintain his sanity by analysing this new situation and speculating on the consequences of being infected.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Sharief Zohairy is an independent director, screenwriter, and producer based in Alexandria. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, then in 2006, he directed his first short fiction film. Several other films followed. Since 2013 he has focused on writing screenplays, two of which have received awards.
︎: @shariefzohairy
︎: @shariefzohairy
︎: Sharief Zohairy