My Longest Dive
- Logline
- Battling poverty, brother’s drug addiction and the dark past of the Arab Spring, an Egyptian diver seeks inspiration in Marvel superhero in order to break his own Guinness record and build a better life.
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Long Synopsis
Ten years after the Arab Spring protests turned into bloodshed, Egyptian society is still recovering from the shock. Many of those who sought freedom from authoritarian rulers fled the capital and found refuge near the Red Sea. Sinai, the cradle of monotheistic religions, is a desert paradise for hermits who consider themselves as Chosen ones. So does young Saddam who wants to become a real-life superhero.
In 2020, Saddam Killany, an Egyptian scuba-diver, claimed two Guinness World Records. During his 145 hour-long dive, he had to rely on Dahabian friends, an infamous bunch of free spirits. When he emerged, he could barely walk. Overall, it took him five years to achieve his dream.
Saddam believed Guinness records would bring him fame and wealth. Today, he works himself to the bone paying off debts and lives in a modest house with his younger brother Mahmoud, a college drop-out. Some consider Saddam a local hero, most an overly ambitious crazy fool.
Saddam meets diving legend Ahmed Gabr and decides not to give up. Acting against all odds, he starts planning to break his own record. He hopes that 10 days underwater will bring sponsors, save his family from poverty and create new knowledge about the human body. Gabr joins his team as a mentor and they begin a new round of preparations, ideally with institutions like NASA behind their back.
As the event draws closer, more pressure is put on Saddam and it is harder to maintain the “superhero” facade. The relationships with the medical team get strained. Mahmoud clashes with him. We get a glimpse of their dark violent past: Mahmoud’s drug addiction and Saddam’s army service during the Arab Spring, when he had to follow orders aimed against fellow citizens. Saddam leaves to meet his mother living in Ismailia, a small rural village.
Back in Dahab things do not go as planned, but Killany puts on his home-made “Iron Man” diving suit and heads towards the coral reef to undertake The Biggest Medical Dive in History. Doubtful about his choices and his future, Saddam is swallowed up by water. Face to face “the big blue”, he battles his demons, discovers his true needs and returns as a different man.
My Longest Dive is a dark docu-comedy about an ordinary man going an extraordinary length to make something better out of himself. In a wider scheme of things, Saddam’s story will explore the origins of aggression unleashed by the revolution, shed a light on Dahab’s transformation into the Mecca of diving, and sound an alarm on the extinction of marine ecosystems.
At the moment of writing, it remains unclear whether we will witness the destruction of one’s dream or the rise of a new legend. However, we are determined to create a snapshot of a liberal Egypt people were once fighting for. - Talent
- Pavel Borecký
- Role of participant
- Screenwriter
- Director
- Štěpánka Červinková
- Producer
- Jarle Bjørknes (Delegate Producer), Kryštof Šafer (Co-Producer)
- Screenwriter
- Štěpánka Červinková, Pavel Borecký (Script Editor)
- Status
- pre-production
- Year of production
- 2022
- Running time
- 90 min
- Genre
- Documentary
- Countries of Production
- Czech Republic , Norway
- Production Company
- Incitus Films
Contact
- Name
- Jarle Bjørknes
- Company
- Incitus Films
- Website