My Brother the Devil
Sally El Hosaini(2012)
Migrant and Diasporic Cinema in Contemporary Europe
Further Information:
Further Information:
This film is available as a DVD in the Project Library at Royal Holloway, University of London
Set on a Hackney housing estate in East London, Sally El Hosaini's debut feature tells the story of two brothers, Rashid and Mo, whose parents migrated from Egypt to the UK. Rashid is involved in drug-dealing and deeply embroiled in gang culture. When his younger brother follows in his footsteps, he is severely wounded but ultimately survives. It also transpires that Rashid is gay and Mo finds it hard to come to terms with since he worships his older brother, whose sexual orientation seems to be incompatible with the idealised masculinity Rash seems to represent.
Sally El Hosaini's urban drama, which was shown at Sundance at 2012, is one of the films that has been developed in context of BABYLON Europe, an audiovisual development programme assisting filmmakers of culturally diverse origin to break through into the international mainstream, with a particular interest in migrant and diasporic stories. BABYLON Europe was founded by Gareth Jones of Scenario Films Ltd., who is a member of the AHRC-funded research networks, Migrant and Diasporic Cinema.
Sally El Hosaini, who is of Egyptian-Welsh background, was one of the participants of the BABYLON Europe Workshop in 2009. You can read an exclusive interview with her and BAYLON Europe founder Gareth Jones on the BABYLON site, where you will find a wealth of other material about the filmmaker and her debut feature. My Brother the Devil was in competition for the Best First Feature Film at the BFI London Film Festival in 2012 and was released by Verve Pictures in December 2012.
Posted by Daniela Berghahn on 20 Mar 2013 • Discuss this Film