I can Smell a rat

I Can Smell A Rat

بيلعب فى عبى

Maribel, 10, is surprised when her drama teacher tells her that she has to play Hamlet in the school play just 2 days before the show. Maribel faces the biggest decision of her life: what to do when she has never taken a part in a play before, other than being a set decoration. She goes home and spends the scariest night of her life with all her fears coming to life.

Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Coming of Age
Runtime: 16 minutes 54 seconds
Production Year: 2024
World Premiere: 45th Cairo International Film Festival November 2024
Festivals :
- 14th Luxor African Film Festival
- 78th Salerno International Film festival
- 17th Short to the point international film festival, Romania
- 26th Spokane international film festival
- 18th Arab Film Festival @Arab American National Museum, Spokane International Film Festival in the USA
- 4th Hollywood Arab Film Festival
- 9th Manassat Film Festival in Egypt
- 9th Toronto Nollywood International Film Festival in Canada.
- Hollywood African Cinema Connection
- O’meme Film Festival, Metropolis Film Festival
- The North Film Festival
- 20th Cyprus International Film Festival
- Seeds Film Festival
- 20th Madagascourt Film Festival
- 1st CIFFA
- Cecinema Film Festival
- Universal Kids Film Festival
- AIU Kuwait Film Festival
- Golden Bridge Istanbul Film Festival
- 41st Alexandria Mediterranean Film Festival
- Silicon Valley Film Festival
- Mosaic World Film Festival
- Lulea Film Festival
- Sunset Boulevard Film Festival
- 10th Ferrara Film Festival
- The Bay Film Festival
- Helsinki Arab Film Festival
- 9th Jeonju Film Festival
- lancilloto Film Festival
- Malabo Music and Film Festival
- Tiro Film Festival
- Tripoli Lebanese Film Festival
- Rabat International Children and Family Film Festival
- Fabriano Film Festival
- Fallbrook Bonsall International Film Festival
- Arlington International Film Festival
- Dream Catchers Film Festival
- Afaq Film Festival
- Abuja International Film Festival
Awards
- Won Special Mention In Luxor African Film Festival
- Best student short in Lulea Film Festival
- Honorable Mention : Beeston Film Festival
- Special jury Award : Jeonju Film Festival

Written & Directed By

Antonious bassily

Director’s Biography:

Antonious Bassily, an Egyptian pharmacist who decided to switch to filmmaking. He studied filmmaking in New York film academy in 2013. He also studied filmmaking at the Jesuit Cairo Cinema School and graduated in 2022.
He wrote and Directed “A Thousand Nights”, “Once There was a Boy”, “Ehem” and “I Can Smell A Rat”.
His films participated in several festivals. “Once there was a boy” won best short film in Rising Sun International Film Festival in Japan in 2020 and the best arab short film in Lebanon Independent Film Festival 2021.
He directed a music video “Schizophrenia” which participated and won best music video award at the Black Star International film festival in Ghana 2022.

Director’s Note

Movies are moments that make us laugh and cry when we see our emotions and shortcomings exposed on the screen in a comedic way. We really love finding a protagonist we empathize with. The protagonist of my film is my imaginary friend whom I love to talk to. He speaks for me in situations, does what I haven’t done, and feels emotions I can’t express. Life is short, but movies make us live more than one life in more than one place and time in a single lifetime. A film can make your day and make you happy, and it makes you think about things you haven’t thought about before and understand people you haven’t felt before.

“He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.”
– Beethoven

For this reason, I left pharmacy…
– Antonious Bassily

In August 2020, a rat appeared in my kitchen, which led to closing the kitchen for a whole week. I didn’t enter the kitchen throughout the week because of the rat inside. After successfully getting rid of it and cleaning the kitchen and returning to normal life, I discovered another rat in the bedroom, and the same thing happened again. After the appearance of the eighth rat and the complete eviction of the occupied rooms in the house, I realized that what I feel is fear of this simple animal, not just disgust for its lack of cleanliness. I wondered how, as a human many times larger than a rat, I am afraid of it to the point of running away and leaving it the place. This is where the idea of the film “I Can Smell a Rat” originated. Fear can prevent you from achieving your dreams.

If we had fixed things when we were young, today would have been better, and that’s why I love making films whose protagonists are children. The child must be the hero because they go through adult struggles in a very important stage that will determine whether they will become decent people or mentally ill.

Maribel always tried to escape the confrontation.