Biography
Manon ElGergawy is a passionate Visual Artist, Filmmaker, Film Programmer, Teacher, Curator, Soprano Vocalist, Media, and Graphic Designer.
In 2021, she graduated from the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Arts; majored in Media Design at the German University in Cairo.
Manon is fervent about Filmmaking, Visual Anthropology, Music, Visual Arts, Digital Media, Mental Health, and Psychology, especially Art Therapy.
FilmOgraphy
A 40-year old lady decides to challenge all the socio-cultural stereotypes and personal fears to embark on a new journey
of following her passion for sports.
A girl's soul goes back to visit her abandoned family house, running and debating with
the camera- symbolising reality- that wants to bring her back to real life.
Embracing physical, emotional, and philosophical perspectives of cracks in
a stream of thought about space; the body,
the void, the architecture, and how much loss, grief, pain, abuse, life, mortality, and conflict they voicelessly seize in a sequence of poetic, metaphorical, experimental built up distorted visuals, along with a soundtrack that welds
the tussle. It is a journey of zooming in and out on the point where all these elements meet; the fracture.
A documentary film about a mother opening up to her daughter about her feelings and the challenges she faced on the night she gave birth to her.
The footage was shot in Atfet El Roum, the street the mother walked alone to fulfill her vows before she got into labour.
On May 17, 2021, we took the train towards Aswan. Our goal was to film a documentary on Nubian vernacular architecture. For four days, we searched for images on the Elphantine island, where we stayed, hoping that a film would result from them. Based on the discussions we had in our course, we did not want images to be only
an empty record of spaces since we do not believe in an idea of architecture deprived of its people. Therefore, this film would not be possible without the hospitality and generosity
of the inhabitants of Elphantine Island.
We dedicate this documentary to them.
We follow the fate of 3 tangerines as they make their way beyond life in the fields. This collective project is a short experimental documentary that tackles head on our habits of consumption and wastage around food, especially fruits. The main overall theme is food wastage and consumption, while subtly drawing metaphorical/symbolic parallels between fruits
and humans, like how both do laborious work, are disposable, and used.
(Temporary Poster)
Coming Soon!
(Temporary Poster)
A teenage boy joins a private
maths group at his cousin's house to find his values, masculinity, and idea about sex being put at test.
Written and Directed by: Manon ElGergawy
Screenplay by: Beshoy Youssef
Produced by: Maggie Morgan
Props
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costumes
The teacher’s reference board
Pre-Production Location Sketches
Almost done.. Stay Tuned!
A young girl in denial says her last goodbye
to her mom in a special way.
Stay Tuned!
(Script Cover Page)
A young wife with two babies who tries to escape her husband’s lion den to her parents house every weekend, but he never fails to cancel the weekly-promised visit.
Cooking!
Selected Short Videos
A Self Portrait
صورة ذاتية
A Beautiful Day Ahead
نهارنا فُل
Art Installations
Lilac is a mental health awareness platform on social media. The theme for their event was Empathy; therefore, I created the In Your Shoe booth.
It was an installation where people can write
on a card something that they are suffering with
or something that holds them back, then stamp their shoe print and hang it on a chart. This card has
a number that has an envelope. When someone passes and reads the story, if they want to “Practice Empathy” they can leave an anonymous message to the unknown person in their envelope. Whoever left their story in the installation can pass by at the end of the day and go home with an envelope full of sweet letters.
A Dollhouse Interactive Media Installation that portrays seven stories of different children who have been victims of child sexual abuse.
These stories are written based on true stories.
Child Sexual Abuse is the act when either
an adult or a child forces another child below
the age of consent into any sexual activity.
93% of the abusers are from the closest circle to the child. The objective was to visually confront people with the two sides of the coin, the family issues, and how they crack the child's immunity and leave room for the abuser to take advantage of the child, and the abusers' tactics they use to manipulate or force the child
into this act.
Exhibition Soon!
On Truth and Patriarchy: 13 Years of True Tales
is a duet art installation project with my friend
and fellow artist Menna ElFeki for our final project for the first term at the Cairo Institute for Liberal Arts
and Sciences (CILAS), where we explored
the intangible boundaries between reality and false memory, and our cycle of conscious or unconscious associations and coping mechanisms with the loss
of the "Father Figure", stretching the meaning of "Loss" along the spectrum of Abandonment and Death.
Chat Circle Soon!
Visual Arts
GIFS
Grace
2021
Fate
2021
Period
2021
Social Media Reels
MFE Film Club - Screening
2023
DM - TKH - Cairo Design Week
2024
MFE Film Club - Screening
2023
Portrait Photography
Photogram Pieces
Art Pieces Currently for Sale
Materials: Acrylic Paint, washed egg shells, tissue paper, wood, and canvas fabric on foam board.
Dimensions: 70x80 cm
Art JOurnaling
The place where I set myself free, breathe, and empty my mind.
I don't think, I let my soul speaks. Everything is unplanned.
I keep going until it feels enough.
Courses/Workshops
This was a creative writing workshop based on the C.L.O.S.A.T technique developed by Michael Rabinger. This was a volunteering opportunity that I conducted through MedFest Egypt during Dawar’s Annual Arts Festival in summer 2023. This workshop was open to the public, attended by 30 people, and was fully delivered in Arabic Language.
Another in-class workshop to sophomore students equipping them with games and ideas that would help them generate, write, edit, and pitch their stories.
I once again used the C.L.O.S.A.T technique, yet with
a totally different approach.
I provided this visual storytelling workshop titled: “Selling Air in Bottles” aka. بيع الهوا في أزايز
to junior students. After several storytelling and development exercises, they were given very absurd prompts for products that they need to brand, launch, pitch, and sell. It needed to have a very emotional and convincing story to manipulate the audience into buying it. Results were CRAZYY!
Few of the prompts I prepare:
- Used press-on nails
- Unfiltered Nile Water
- A hairspray that works against gravity
- A cream that grows hair overnight
- Animal feaces... etc.
Student Work
An interactive short documentary film series, where the Group of four girls, Nour Hanafi, Lara Helmy, Halla Mohammed, and Dana Feyssal, decided to investigate and put an end to the Israeli myth of winning the 6th of October’s battle through interviews and archival footage.
This is a short interactive ethno-fiction film, followed by a series of podcast discussions, where five students, Malak Moataz, Malaka Hassan, Lojain Hassan, Farida ElFaioumy, and Youssef Mansour dive deep into the dark and tragic story of Hamza ElBasyouni. You can watch the whole playlist starting by the first link.
خلف الجدران
البحث عن حمزة البسيوني في سجن القلعة
A short interactive documentary done by Ahmed Samir, Hazem Wegdan, Karim Sherif, and Mohammed Shamaa, about ElSultan Hassan’s Mosque, introducing and show casing this fascinating architectural monument to the younger generation’s bucket list of places-you-should-go.
Whatever you do, do it with all your heart.
Col. 3:23
