Please Try Again Later

Hassan Elhalwagy

Windows closed, people are homeless…

Somewhere on the sidewalks the father is running, standing as an exhausted marathon champion…

Night clouds gather on a wide digital screen, water drops carried within cloud balloons look like ready grey cubes that are about to fall on people’s heads and smash them.

The father runs, standing in his place, imagining that he has approached.

Poor in quality, the scene is vague. Everything turns into poorly lined-up pixels; the only clear thing is the order buttons on the smart touch screen. Obedient, people gradually become blurring shadows, disturbed signals, vague symbols, spots and numbers, awaiting the network to work again.

Windows closed, houses lurking for those returning to them. Consecutive human migrations take place on the sidewalks, bodies awaiting the expected decision.

The will glitches because the memory is full, some important memories must be sacrificed so that they could go back… such as that of a father forgetting that he is a retiring sprinter.

The message is ready to be sent.

Send

……

Error

Please check the network and try again later.

An online video program from Cairo Video Festival’s archive available at m-est.org

1/8: Boredom (2010) by Henry Gwiazda

2/8: Postface (2011) by Frédéric Moffet

3/8: The Pencil (2014) by Roberto Zanata

4/8: DVA No Survi (2014) by Admiral Kolencik & Peter Skala

5/8: BarbieWorld Experience Part 1 - overture (2014) by Dave Berg

6/8: I’m no longer obsessed with winning (2013) by Carlo Ferraris