His passion for the cinema is not confined to watching movies. He also designs posters of the films he likes most, reflecting their message.
“Every time I feel stressed, I escape to the cinema,” said graphic designer Ahmed Hassan Fares.
Fares told the Egyptian Mail that the idea of minimalist movie posters is not new.
“It’s a global trend that is always renewed by the artists around the world, re-designing their favourite movie posters, by choosing one symbol from the movie that encapsulates it,” Fares said.
“Sometimes I add a quote, which I think delivers the message of the film.”
“I watch a film closely, then I choose a distinctive frame that summarises the film according to my point of view.”
Every detail in the posters starts with the font, the symbol, and the quote he writes.
Fares started a project last year a project ‘100 Arabic movie posters’.
For example, ‘Al-Aar’ (The Shame, 1982), directed by Ali Abdel Khaleq, tells the story of a pious perfume trader, who travels to Alexandria to make a drug deal, for which he pays all his fortune but is killed on his return.
The trader’s eldest son admits the truth about the source of the family’s wealth. Everyone is faced with a difficult choice between completing the deal and take the money, or refuse and lose the inheritance.
In his poster for ‘Al-Aar’, Fares chooses the moment that two of the brothers are confronting together.
He wrote the name of the film in Arabic in such a way that the trader’s three sons look down in shame.
“I love calligraphy, so I wrote the film’s title in a style that reflects my view of the movie. I consider calligraphy in itself as a symbol,” he said.
The poster, which takes one to two weeks to finish, cannot advertise the film, because it cannot be understood except by someone who has seen movie and liked it.
This year his project is a continuation of last year’s, but with a difference: all the posters are in English, not Arabic.
Another movie for which Fares re-designed the poster is ‘Tito’ (2004), directed by Tarek el-Aryan. Tito is sentenced to prison for burglary, despite his young age. After serving his time, he decides to abandon the world of crime and start a decent career.
Later, Tito tries to steer a child away from becoming a criminal.
“Tito is trying to do with the child what he would like someone to have done for him,” Fares said. “For me, this was the conflict of the film.”
Fares’s poster of ‘Tito’ shows the main character in black (representing his ignominious past) apart from a small part of his body (the life he wishes to lead now). He is holding the child’s hand, but the youngster’s legs is black, symbolising the beginning of his descent into a criminal behaviour.
“I also chose a blue background to signify darkness, the long way they have to go,” he said.
“I’m really happy by the people’s reactions on the posters. It was unexpected for me. Some of my posters are being displayed in an art gallery in Garden City,” he said.
“I want to tell the people that the posters shouldn’t be just traditional. As the story can be understood on many level many ways to be narrated, so the posters must reflect that.
“My dream is to get involved with cinema myself and direct my first movie.”
