A musical tribute follows a twelve year old child on his difficult journey to undergo heart surgery a thousand kilometers away from home. Though accompanied by his parents, this is a journey he must take alone. He leaves behind loving friends who bid him goodbye with a modern rendition of the Egyptian classic “ya messafer wahdak” (translation: Lonesome Traveler).

The Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation is one of the world’s most renowned heart facilities. It operates in Aswan, a thousand miles away from the home of our main character. Patients from all over the country embark on long and grueling journeys seeking treatment. Travel-ing in Egypt, where infrastructure remains substandard, is challenging especially when rely-ing on public transportation. The journey is physically and emotionally exhausting, on both patient and loved ones.

The foundation is collecting donations towards building a facility in Cairo, making treatment accessible to people from around the country.

The Holy Month of Ramadan goes well beyond fasting for Muslims. It is a time known for doing good deeds, and most importantly, for giving charity. It is the peak season for TV shows and entertainment. Families gather around to soak in the long line-up of series and programs, punctuated with abundant advertisements, for whom Ramadan is the most im-portant time of year. For charitable organizations that rely on donations, the Ramadan TV spot is of monumental importance. The content of the ads caters to audience’s emotions, and they bank on the audience’s elevated philanthropic proclivity during the Holy Month.

Though these ads target affluent Egyptians for donations, the organizations themselves ca-ter to lower-income families. To trigger audience emotions, the ads almost always feature gruesomely despairing storylines, and instead of raising awareness, they objectify patients. They point to the growing gap between the classes in Egyptian society.

The patient is not the object of our observation and pity, but the protagonist of his own sto-ry. We wanted to focus on emotions that speak to all of us: displacement, longing, family and friendship.

Making the ad personal and genuine was the behind every directorial choice. A cast of un-known amateurs and off-the-grid locations, pointed to the marginalization felt by those ne-glected patients. We moved away from the overly staged and stylized nature of this genre. All shots were hand-held, mostly using wide lenses, without establishing shots,. We stayed with the characters throughout aiming to be empathetic companions rather than voyeuristic intruders. The film needed to feel like a collage of stolen moments.

Ads for charitable organizations always feature child-oriented jingles. We wanted to choose a classic, too old for the cast, portraying how these children are forced to endure a struggle beyond their years.