Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim
Title in English: Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim
Director: Sherif El Bendary
Country: Egypt/France/Qatar
Year: 2016
Duration: 92 min.
Language: Arabic with English subtitles
Awards: Muhr Award, Best Actor, Dubai International Film Festival, 2016
Ali loves his goat as the incarnation of his dead girlfriend. His neighbor Ibrahim hears impossibly loud phantom noises – an affliction that has cursed three generations of his family. When Ali is told by a mystic to throw a rock in the three seas of Egypt, this squabbling pair of misfits embark on a life-changing road trip with the goat.
Director Sherif El Bendary’s quirky debut feature combines sincerity and absurdity and a whole lot of heart as the action in this realist film crescendos towards its mystical finale. This is a film about processing grief and loss; about friendship and love; and about faith and compassion – not religious faith, but the commonplace day-to-day trust that builds communities.