Caution! Kaisa El Ramly’s upcoming feature “Gateways & Dreams” has debuted a trailer, so watch out for moving vehicles.
The tragicomic road movie, produced by Helsinki-based Inland Film Company and co-produced by Sweden’s Läsk, focuses on multiple characters stuck in their cars on one summer’s day, as well as one hitchhiker and a very special dog.
Following its screenings at Helsinki Int. Film Festival – Love & Anarchy, it will be released in Finland on Dec. 1. Aurora Studios is handling distribution.
El Ramly is refusing to hit the brakes, however, currently developing TV series “OAT: The Orgasm of All Time” with producer Liora Notoadikusumo and Denmark’s True Content Production.
“It’s about an a cappella group of women trying to enter this prestigious competition with a song composed out of sounds they make when they climax. As you can imagine, it’s full of energy,” she laughs, also revealing another feature in the works, “Born Wrong.” Based on her previous short.
“It a continuation of this story about two sisters who, come to think about it, also sit in a car and keep fighting a lot. Now, we will meet them again. I love my characters and I hate them. Usually, at the same time.”
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In “Gateways & Dreams,” she also wanted to portray “authentic people.” Robert Enckell, Dick Idman, Lasse Karkjärvi, Hannu Kivioja, Erja Manto and Sari Mällinen star.
“Nobody’s perfect. Everything we see online is so polished, but I want to show real people instead. Real people can be sad, funny, flawed and crazy. And wonderful.”
But reality soon gives way to madness, as her characters engage in a series of odd encounters.
“There are fantastical elements in the film, that’s true. There is an animated sequence and the dog actually talks, and it speaks Chinese! I wanted to ‘elevate’ certain situations, rooted in everyday life, because it releases tension.”
“When you laugh, you accept things more easily. I like to look at the world in a serious, but also non-realistic way. It’s the only way to survive,” she notes.
El Ramly attributes her sense of humor – and love for road movies – to her roots.
“I come from two separate cultures, Egypt and Finland, and I have always considered myself more ‘international.’ We used to live in different countries when I was a child. [As a director] I can be braver and I can go further, because I am not attached to just one place,” she says.
“I am constantly moving. Otherwise, I get restless. I wanted to have the camera inside of these cars because when I was a child, and we were driving around Cairo, us kids would hide behind the seats. It was a safe place to observe the world.”
“Mine is definitely a new voice from Finland! And I am loud.”
As craziness mounts in the film, with even local Starsky & Hutch making an appearance, her characters slowly reveal their pain.
“It’s all about fear. What these people have to realize, and some of them do, is that life isn’t worth living when you are afraid of dying. You can’t really enjoy it. It’s something I also tell myself everyday: ‘Don’t be afraid,’” she says.
“For me, the funniest thing imaginable has to do with our desperate ways of trying to survive in this crazy world. It’s hilarious. My humor comes from drama, but it’s never about laughing at people. It’s more about this humane, gentle chuckle.”
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