Perfumed with Mint

Local title
Piparmündi lõhn
Original title
Moattar Binanaa
Director
Muhammed Hamdy
Country
Egypt, France, Qatar, Tunisia
Year
2024
Festival
28th Black Nights Film Festival
Programme
Best of Festivals
Genre
drama, crime film, thriller
Subject
individual vs society, addictions, human rights

A lovesick physician and his old friend try to escape the ghosts of their past.

Alaa is a 30-year-old doctor. One day, he is visited in his clinic by Mahdy, an old friend who needs help with a strange phenomenon that is afflicting him – mint is sprouting from his body. Alaa and Mahdy find themselves without shelter. The smell of mint attracts danger and pursues them through their deteriorating city. They are led through a series of disturbing encounters with former companions. Those who once shared a bond of devotion are now estranged, disloyal and reeking of mint. Will the two friends find a way out of this nightmare, endlessly haunted by memories of loss? Or will they be left out in the cold, waiting and hiding in the streets where they once lived peacefully?

The work of a skilled painter with light and shadow, “Perfumed with Mint” is thick with atmosphere and allegory marking a fascinating new voice in African and Arab cinema. Sedated and nearly non-narrative, Hamdy’s film captures the tranquilized paranoia of a wounded generation tormented by what they cannot forget and what they refuse to surrender. (Toronto FF)

The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in the Critics’ section (The Settimana Internazionale della Critica).

Director
Muhammed Hamdy
Screenwriter
Muhammed Hamdy
Cast
Alaa En Din Hamada, Mahdy Abo Bahat, Abdo Zin Eldin, Hatem Emam Moustafa
Producer
Fares Ladjimi
Cinematographer
Muhammed Hamdy
Sound
Mostafa Shaaban, Antonin Dalmasso, Aymeric Dupas
World sales
Reason8
Runtime
Language
Arabic
Subtitles
English
Other festivals
Toronto, Venice
Director
Muhammed Hamdy

Screenings

1. Hall Apollo Kino Tasku
Screening034202 / Piparmündi lõhn
SubtitlesEnglish
Screening duration
6th Hall Apollo Kino Coca-Cola Plaza
Screening050604 / Piparmündi lõhn
SubtitlesEnglish
Screening duration
Hall 1 Kino Artis
Screening142103 / Piparmündi lõhn
SubtitlesEnglish
Screening duration
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