Al Rabee’ (Spring) documentary gives a detailed description of Egypt, from my point of view, during the last decade since the ruling régime and its rich cortege began aborting any move that the society tried to make towards development and reform. The regime intended to keep people busy trying to find their daily bread instead of demanding democracy.

Egypt, which makes use of only one tenth of its territory, is now suffering from total system deficiency in all its vital institutions as those in charge of these institutions suffer from ageing diseases, and the interest of the civilians is of less importance to them than their own interests.
One of the most pathetic scenes, which Egyptians have been experiencing for decades, yet not the most pathetic, is happening in graveyards where more than six million people live after failing to find a suitable place for the minimum standard of their dignity.

Al Rabee’ is an authentication of daily live events of a miserable family living in a graveyard. They have to accept this situation and, over time, they have become satisfied with the way they live. By accepting this awful fate they turn somehow to some sort of happiness which seems to me larger than the rich would feel in their luxurious palaces.

Difficulties during filming:
Most graveyard inhabitants are of rustic origins and conservative traditions.  While the elderly used to provide burial services for the living and of course with no fixed salary, the young insist on pursuing their education with the aim of gaining a profession. They dream of lifting their families from this low rank of society. The majority of them are not brave enough to disclose their residence location to colleagues and friends at schools.
For this reason, the graveyard population flatly refuses to face the camera. Therefore, it took two weeks to find Om Karam who eventually accepted to be filmed. In the first minutes of the film, Om Karam is seen trying to convince her daughters to be filmed while they are trying to avoid the camera.

Film Style
I decided from the start to make the film based on observation. It took real effort before actual filming to persuade the Om Karam family members to totally ignore my presence among them as essentially I wanted them to go on with their usual life style.
However, during the editing stage, I had to leave out several scenes in which the girls were asking for my advice on how to perform certain things and every time I was answering "do things as you always do!".

A touchy picture even if it did not appear
One of the master film scenes was shot in total darkness. In fact it did not bother me that the viewers would listen to an ordinary dialogue between the actors while the dominant color was black.  That was actually when the stolen electricity power was by accident cut off to the house/grave. They told me it was a daily event for them and therefore they could even see in the dark. The most amusing thing is that they were trying to prepare lunch and exchanging kitchen utensils while their voices did not give the impression that they were annoyed. I believe that including this particular scene in the film as it was, had participated in clarifying a vital side in the actors' lives.

Disturbance to fight fear
At the beginning, I did not want to add music to the film so that it would neither spoil the spontaneity of the film nor impose a specific dramatic message on the viewer. However, when I decided to end the film with the specific scene of the family having lunch in the midst of graves, it struck me that music would present the voice of the pathetic society, which regards the laughs of those who accept the miserable fate and wishes them more acceptance.  I carefully chose a short piece of music performed on the ‘mizmar’ which is widely used in the Egyptian countryside. I started the shot in which the family guest Abu Hani preferred to smoke cigarette outside rather than eating with them.  I filmed him from the roof and it seemed to me that he was thinking again about the discussion he had just had about their deteriorating circumstances.
Furthermore, all through the film the viewer will feel annoyed, as much as the actors, with the sharp screams of the parrot of which Om Karam takes care. Some would believe that the parrot's noise spoils the audio track in the film. However, I think Om Karam really wanted the noise to dominate the imagined noises of the ghosts of the dead which haunted the place as she believed. Moreover, the cheerful colors of the parrot, in general, assist the family to challenge its sad destiny! In fact, this parrot seemed to me as a proof that the actual name of Om Karam resembles its meaning in Arabic (Karam is generosity)  as the old lady was very poor yet she was looking after a gentle bird along with her daughters.

Abu Hani This man is the chief of Sayedah Ayesha's graveyard inhabitants. He introduced me to Om Karam and encouraged her to trust me.  In fact, it did not take me long to convince him to assist me. As a democratic leader of such a Dead Republic, he usually gives a hand to journalists since he believes they can pass his people’ complaints to the government.  He is also every family's friend. Therefore, Om Karam had invited him to attend the filming.  On the one hand, his presence gave some security to the ladies that it would prevent me from shooting inappropriate scenes. On the other hand, it was because they were female and traditions prevented them from staying alone with men. Abu Hani even accompanied his wife to give more assurance to Om Karam and her daughters.
Shortly after starting the film, Abu Hani indirectly became my method of gathering information about the way the family was living. He was obviously articulate, confident and he did not fear the camera. He smartly drew Om Karam and her daughters in an open discussion about their life conditions, which gave me the chance to film a very informative yet dramatic scene.
I ended this scene with Abu Hani’s expression (we are just living dead)  followed by a quick flash of all present thinking of his words while silence prevailed for some time before the shot disappeared gradually.

Choice of Title
‘Living Dead’ was initially supposed to be the title of the film, even before Abu Hani said it, as it was and would always be the most accurate description of Om Karam life. However, through viewing the material in preparation for editing, I found a shot which drew my attention while filming.  The house’s wall was built of red bricks on which I saw the word Al Rabee’ (spring) carved.  Most probably, it was the name of the company that produced those bricks. Thus, I decided to use it as a final shot for the film since it summed up the exciting contradiction in the life of Om Karam and her daughters.
Spring is the happiest season of the year. It is accompanied with blooming flowers and shining sun. Maybe that was why Om Karam's family had surrounded its life in this grave with a wall of such hope. They regarded this wall as the fortress and refuge against the outside world that deprived them of happiness and stability.

The title Al Rabee’ makes me despise society every time I watch the end of the film. I meant to put it in Arabic to emphasize the paradox of the film.  However, I subtitled it to make it easier for the non-Arab speaking viewer to understand this paradox.