Through the eyes of the children, "The children of the Nile" opens a very special journey in the heart of the Southern Egypt traditional life. The film takes place in Abu Djoud, the gipsy part of Luxor, not far from the Karnak temple, and features Raouda and Bastud, two children from the large family of Mohamed Mourad, leader of the worldwide famous group "The Musicians of the Nile". His gang, the Mataqils gang, is the biggest family of gipsy musicians from Southern Egypt. Their stronghold is in a dead end with a surreal atmosphere, between rural and small urban neighborhood: a microcosm of a more than 70 people community thanks to the 26 children of Mohamed, today all married. 

By foot, by horse or by felucca, Raouda and Bastud take us discover their daily life, their community and make us explore their world: the alley, the neighborhood, the banks of the Nile and the traditional celebrations.

THE FILMMAKER

Aurelie Chauleur has a Master Degree in Mediation and Arts Management from the Sophia Antipolis University in Nice.
She started her career as a manager and artists producer in the world music field in Paris, after working as an artistic coordinator for the festival "Rencontres de Chants Polyphoniques de Calvi" in Corsica. This professional experience gave her the taste for travel, the taste for others, and she goes to explore India in 2006, discovering "live" not only its music and its culture but also its taste for picture. She worked there for four years with traditional musicians, street children, produced music albums, videos, but also built bridges with the humanitarian world: for the campaign of young girls education in India, "Girl Star", with the NGO "Going to School" in Delhi, supported by Unicef; for the cultural events organised with the NGO "Acorn Foundation" in Bombay, especially for the Dharavi Project which highlights the working conditions of the ragpickers from Dharavi slum.
Today based in Paris, she continues to work for cultural festivals ("Islam & the city" in the Institute of Cultures of Islam in Paris, the World Sacred Music Festival of Fes in Morocco), for the production house of Yann Arthus-Bertrand Hope Production, and she uses the video camera as a communication tool in her personal projects.
After her first documentary on the traditional music of Mozambique "Mozambico, sketching the music" was presented the 28th of April 2012 in the major music venue in Paris "Cite de la Musique", she currently prepares a serie of poetic documentaries by the children and for the children: the first chapter in Egypt, the second one in Morocco and the third one in India.


TECHNICAL DETAILS
SAMPLES OF THE FILM