“Sea of love” The Documentary Film


Every time I log into my website, I realize that it has been so long since I published a new post ….

I get a bit sad and distracted for a few minutes …

Then, it’s a matter of seconds before I find myself, with a timid sense of self-guilt, encapsulated in a giant air bubble, inside which I only hear a question that keeps echoing and coming back stronger and louder “why don’t you post as frequent as you used to, a couple of years ago … why?

I don’t like the sight of my website looking as some deserted place that used to be buzzing with life and great expectations… and also great disappointments.

The funny thing is that, I knew the answer all along …

Few years ago I was so much into researching the history of the ancient Near-East and of course that of Ancient Egypt … and as a matter of fact I still do. And I will surely keep doing that ( so stay tuned for upcoming videos & posts correcting the biblical narrative and its alleged connection to Ancient Egypt )

Actually, my book “Egypt Knew neither Pharaoh nor Moses” is still on amazon’s list of the bestselling books in the category of ancient Egypt/comparative religion.

My inclination to dig deep & research our ancient history and to expose the distortion/deception that is deeply embedded in our collective subconscious will never go away … but something new came up.

I got interested in realizing another one of my very oldest passions, making short films and documentaries.

Yes, filmmaking was and still is one of my most captivating passions. It is magical to try and turn a good story into a visual interpretation. Maybe, It is time-consuming … but a fantastic experience.

Telling a story in a visual medium/form is an undertaking that takes a lot of talent, creativity and filmmaking skills. I just want to mention here there that I have spent almost 3 years years in extensive courses studying lighting, non-linear editing, handling different cameras/lenses and directing short films & documentaries.

I’m not saying that writing a good essay, research or even poem or a story is less creative or rewarding.

But filmmaking is like magic. A dreamlike process of turning a novel, a simple idea, or even a real life story into a visual one.

In the case of the documentary film … the reverse is what we usually do …. we film first … shoot as many interviews and B-roll as possible … and after we finish filming…. We start carving out the story-line/script of the documentary.

In the “Sea of Love” documentary film, I’m telling a compelling story of an English painter, namely Brian Flynn and his transforming journey/experience in Egypt.

When he turned 50–year-old, hardly an age for dramatic life-transforming decisions, Brian comes to Egypt as a casual tourist. He visits the famous sites like the Pyramids, the Sphinx, etc., but he is not impressed.

Only when he visits an ancient Islamic site in ancient Cairo, hardly known to the western tourists, namely, the mosque of Sultan Hassan (usually referred to as Egypt’s fourth Pyramid) … the amazing story of Brian Flynn begins.

Now Brian has been living/established in the ancient city of Luxor in Upper Egypt, for almost 15 years.

He has taken off his western clothing, and is currently wearing the native Egyptian Jellabiya. Brian has embraced Egyptian Sufi tradition and became a devout Sufi who attends almost all the Sufi gatherings/festivals all over Egypt.

Who once was a British painter with western values and beliefs, has now turned into a Sufi Dervish. Brian Flynn has changed into an almost different man. You could say he has transformed into an upper Egyptian man, heart and soul.

Likewise, his painting style has dramatically changed.  Brian resorted to allegorical representation to try and portray the energy & ecstasy he feels during attending the Sufi festivals and its not-so-obvious link to Ancient Egyptian Temple teaching.

The “Sea of Love” is a rare & amazing story of a man who asserts the fact that things just don’t happen to him, rather he is the one who makes his own reality.

“The story of Brian Flynn in Egypt is the story of reviving Egyptian Sufism, in the sense of brilliantly tracing the roots of modern Egyptian Sufi practices and music to ancient Egyptian temple teaching”

Most of us lead a life of conformity, repetition, boredom and often end up wasting precious life time & gifts … but not Brian Flynn.

So, watch the documentary, and hopefully you will get inspired ( like I did).

It is a 70-minute-documentary, so get ready for a rather long cinematic adventure, fun and honest portrayal of self-transformation.

And who knows maybe, in some strange way, it will help you change/make some life-transforming …, or better yet, life-reviving decisions.


Kindly share the post. We are hoping to spread the amazing/inspiring story of Brian Flynn as far & wide as possible. Do it for Brian, for he definitely deserves it.

6 thoughts on ““Sea of love” The Documentary Film

  1. I’ve been looking forward to this, after watching the trailer to “Sea Of Love” that you previously shared. Thank you, Dr. Ezzat! If I may point out: a significant missed opportunity for me lies in the absence of commentary on the “Nubian series” Gaber Hassan expressed his special preference for, & which Britt Boutros Ghali briefly speculated on regarding the “more African people” Flynn’s art is progressively portraying. It would have been wonderful to hear from someone, even the artist himself, delve deeper into why such portrayals matter…

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    1. FERNANDO DE SOUSA FALCÃO, Thank you for watching my recent documentary “Sea of love”. Glad you liked it.
      Kindly share the post. We are hoping to spread the amazing/inspiring story of Brian Flynn as far & wide as possible. Do it for Brian, for he definitely deserves it.

      Like

      1. Very intruiguing, enjoyable documentary. Really enjoyed it!!
        Could be shortened a lot, as it was very repetitive in places where we, once again, watched him swaying with other sufis. Also, the music volume was way too loud when Brian was speaking, at times. Very annoying, unpleasant. With annoyances aside, i did struggle thru the whole video and loved learning about his journey! Very special.

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      2. Thank you Nansye,
        I agree with you , that the film could have been cut in a way, so that it would finally be shorter. That was my main target, for I had originally planned to screen it at international film festivals for documentary films in 2020. But what do you know, this Corona-virus thing has cancelled all film festivals. So, I felt a bit unbounded by time limit. Maybe that’s why I wanted to cram in as much info about Brian as the story-line allowed.Bearing in mind that we filmed almost 15 hours of interview with Brian alone. So, to come up with a film of only 70-minute about him is not a bad job. One thing though, I did not comprehend what you meant when you wrote ” I struggled thru the whole film” … would like to know what did you mean by that . Thank you.

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