STORY NAME: The outcast artist

COPYRIGHT HOLDER: Ahmed Qandil, Soutalomma / OPEN Media Hub COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Ownership of content belongs to Ahmed Qandil, Soutalomma / OPEN Media Hub USAGE TERMS: Share & Adapt - Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

EDITOR’S NOTES: None SOURCE: Soutalomma - http://www.soutalomma.com Open Media Hub – http://www.openmediahub.com “This production was supported by OPEN Media Hub with funds provided by the European Union”

LANGUAGE: DURATION: 00:10:07 JOURNALIST: Ahmed Qandil EMAIL: [email protected]

SLUGLINE: Gender And Identity, Ramzi Dancer

HEADLINE: Ramzi is an Egyptian young man, who lives in a rural village and adores belly dancing since his childhood. He dreams of becoming a well-known dancer. However, his relatives refuse this out of shame. Ramzi insists on pursuing his talent, and as the result he faces abuses from the people of his village. They outcast, driving him and make him live alone, accuse him of homosexuality, bully deal with him aggressively and force him to leave the village. When he tries to work away from his village, he suffers sexual blackmailing. He falls into psychological trouble and starts to think of suicide. Finally, he decides to return to his village and live alone as an outcast.

DATELINE: , – 25/05/2019

SCRIPT: 00:00 – 00:09 They accuse you of stupidness although they themselves are the stupid. Do you understand what these stupid people did to me? 00:23 – 00:37 I like Taekwondo so much. It’s a game of power and nerves. It should be practiced and liked by any man. However, my problem is that the people of my village do not count me as a man at all. 00:43 – 00:54 I am Ramzi Ibrahim Nagah Saleh, from El Mahalla El Kubra, 27, and my favorite hobby is belly dancing.

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00:55 – 01:22 I loved dancing since I was a kid. I used to watch videos of the early artists like Naema Akef, Samyah Gamal and Sakinah El Fiqi, wear girls dance dresses and perform dancing in front of the TV. 01:37 – 01:55 I used, upon hearing of the arrival of a big band to my village, to go out on stage to dance with the members of the band. As they liked my performance, they used to give me the space to dance. This was when I was young. Afterwards, I began to dance in wedding parties. 01:56 – 02:15 As a child, my dancing didn’t cause problems to my family. It was normal for them because I used to dance in wedding parties. In addition, they didn’t know it was belly dancing as they never expected me to do so. 02:21 – 02:40 When I told my family that it would be my work, they refused; my father refused because people told him that this was not acceptable. They claimed that I would bring him shame, cause him troubles and asked him that I should never mention the name of my village in any TV interview or to those interested in dancing. 02:42 – 02:55 My family refused my work as a dancer fearing of what people would say. They threw me out of the house for one year and a half. I faced, during this period, major abuses. 03:10 – 03:16 I spent months alone out of the village and nobody asked about me. One day, I had a surgery in the leg and nobody asked about me. 03:17 – 04:00 I have been to Cairo, where I worked in the Pyramids area for a while. I left the work then and worked in dancing in Agami and Hanoville, “”. Afterwards, I worked in a band for performing arts in , where I danced in hotels and safari parties in the mountains and among the bedouins. Then, I worked in Gharbiyah, Cairo, Banha and . I used to travel a lot with a folk dance troupe that I worked with. I was the best dancer in this troupe. 04:01 – 04:50 Most of the men dancers go out in special dancing nights after finishing dancing in parties but I don’t like it. I was directly asked to dance in a special dancing night but I refused because the host of the party didn’t want me to dance, but for another purpose. He wanted to have gay sex with me. I told him that I just want to practice my talent or I don’t work at all; whether I achieve my dream on my own and my talent or I don’t work and die of suicide. 04:52 – 05:15 When I have been to Sharm El Sheikh, performed dancing there and found all people have an impure thoughts about me, I was not only frustrated but psychically broken.

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So, how could I see myself as an artist, can train dancers and has a goal I hope to reach, while the community I have been to cares only about nudity and money. 05:22 – 05:37 When I came back from Sharm El Sheikh, my family didn’t accept me. They didn’t want me to dance or live in the whole village because its people didn’t accept my dancing and courage. 05:51 – 06:23 I was psychologically and totally destroyed and anybody could claim anything about me. I used to go to therapy at Demerdash psychiatric hospital, have therapy sessions and feel comfortable while talking to the psychiatrist as he is different from the normal man. I used to tell him everything but I dropped out of therapy because of desperation and I thought about suicide twice but I felt afraid of God. 07:09 – 07:31 I dance in disguise because people don’t accept and attack me. If I don’t dance, I feel dying, annoyed, upset and missing out something because dancing makes me feel comfortable. When I am sad, I dance. 07:31 – 07:40 I tried hard to enter the mosque but the people of village berated me and told me that people like me shouldn’t enter the mosque or get closer to its door. 07:46 – 07:54 The keeper of the mosque: “I prevent him from entering the mosque” Investigative journalist: “Why do you prevent him from getting into the mosque?” The keeper of the mosque and the people of the village: “I just prevented him for no reason.” 07:55 – 08:30 I worked in every field, such as aluminum industry, collecting orange, house paints, construction businesses and at a textile factory. I worked in every normal and natural field I knew while being old but none of these works suited me because they lack the talent I like in dancing. 08:31 – 08:45 Children love me very much. They like watching my dancing and greeting me when they see me walking in the street. They say things that some people think it bothers me, but it isn’t as I understand them. 08:50 – 08:59 I faced many people. They wish me reach depression. 09:00 – 09:05 People do not respect me at all. Sometimes, they consider me a devil. 09:30 – 09:43

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My relationship with God is very good. When I feel annoyed, I pray and talk to Him and ask Him to get me out of distress. Only God knows whether I am a good or bad man. 09:46 – 09:54 I am very proud of my talent and I am proud of myself doing something that no man can do it. 09:58 – 10:05 I hope to practice my talent without any exploitation.

SHOTLIST: Ramzi talks to a cow in the livestock shelter.

Ramzi looks at a light puncture through a dark livestock shelter. Ramzi performs Taekwondo exercises. An interview with Ramzi inside his house. A child opens a window as Ramzi is sleeping in the room. The child wakes up Ramzi. Ramzi washes and dries his face in front of the bathroom mirror. Ramzi watches dance scenes on the TV while having his tea. Ramzi performs belly dancing. An interview with Ramzi while sitting on a tree trunk next to a canal. Ramzi sweeps the house. Ramzi climbs the stairs of the house. Ramzi enters the poultry room on the roof. Ramzi prepares poultry meal. Ramzi feeds the poultry. Ramzi plays with a pigeon. Ramzi gets out of the house. Ramzi walks in the street. Ramzi throws stones at the canal. Ramzi looks at the people on the other side of the canal. An interview with Ramzi while sitting on a tree trunk next to the canal. Ramzi plays with a horse. Ramzi walks between the houses of the village. Ramzi walks in front of the grass. A shot of the grass while flying. Ramzi smokes behind the iron window. Ramzi closes the window of the house. Ramzi plays songs on the cassette while wearing a dance suit. Ramzi dances on the tunes of the songs. An interview with Ramzi while sitting on a tree trunk next to the canal. Ramzi keeps dancing.

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Completing the interview with Ramzi. An overall shot to the mosque of the village. Ramzi walks towards the mosque. A shot to a fight between the people of the village while preventing Ramzi from entering the mosque. An interview with Ramzi while sitting on a tree trunk next to the canal. Ramzi carries grasses on a cart. Ramzi enters the livestock shelter with grasses. Ramzi plays with the children. Ramzi runs with the children in the agricultural land. An overall shot to the agricultural land in the village. Ramzi picks the grasses from the agricultural land. Ramzi looks at the agricultural land.

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SCRIPT: (Original language)

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CAMERA OPERATOR: Mohamed Nabil VIDEO EDITOR: Tareq Abdelaziz

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MUSIC RIGHTS: https://audiojungle.net/item/sad-piano-pack/21593810 (If applicable)

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