SHALL I COMPARE YOU TO A SUMMER’S DAY

A poppy yet profound musical parable for the Grindr era? Yes please! Driven by a soundtrack of Egyptian pop songs, director Mohammad Shawky Hassan draws on his own personal love diary, Shakespearean sonnets, and folktales from Scheherazade’s One Thousand and One Nights to create a contemporary queer musical unlike anything else.

Unfolding through conversations between Scheherazade and ghosts of former lovers, SHALL I COMPARE YOU TO A SUMMER’S DAY turns Hassan’s diary of sexual adventures into a playful serial narrative about the stresses of polyamory. The sensuous stories in this Berlinale Official Selection urge you to abandon caution and get swept away in the music.

Presented in partnership with the Arab Film and Media Institute

Mohammad Shawky Hassan

Maximilian Haslberger