DUBAI: The British-Emirati filmmaker and singer-songwriter Layla Kaylif is to shoot an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra” in Georgia later this year.
It is Kaylif’s second outing as a writer/director. The film follows 2018’s “The Letter Writer” and will take on the difficult task of adapting one of Shakespeare’s most challenging plays. Characterised by a complex layering of comedy, tragedy, romance and history, “Antony and Cleopatra” was last given a cinematic outing in 1972.
“People are really precious about Shakespeare, especially in England,” said Kaylif, who is producing the film with her husband, Mario Calcagni. “In the sense that, when you have a very secular society, there’s always something that has to represent the sacred. Shakespeare occupies that space. Whereas I’m just like, ‘yeah, you got to edit it up.’ The interesting thing is that ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ is really cinematic. The choppiness of it, the cinematic flow, it needs to be on the screen.”
Kaylif first began working on the screenplay in 2013 and completed the final draft in 2022. A fast-paced and compact adaptation, the film will portray Antony and Cleopatra’s love affair as an expression of the soul’s struggle for perfection. Set against a backdrop of war and politics, it will also use modern English. “It still contains the essence but you don’t have Shakespearean language,” Kaylif said. “Why be precious about that?”
The film will be shot in and around some of Georgia’s most iconic monuments and celebrate the work of architect Victor Djorbenadze. It will also feature Tamara Kvesitadze’s “Ali and Nino,” a kinetic steel sculpture located in the Black Sea city of Batumi. “If everyone sees this statue, I’m going to be happy,” said Kaylif, who is also an ambassador for Defense for Children International. “Georgia contains within its landscape the perfect context for the story I want to tell. In the context of my story, the ultimate raison d’etre of Antony and Cleopatra’s earthly existence is to transcend their worldly pursuits. That’s really what I’m interested in.”
Currently in the budgeting phase, the film will be shot by Tbilisi-based 1991 Productions. The company already has a number of documentaries and movies to its name, including the Cold War-era documentary “Glory to the Queen,” and is led by producers Nino Chichua and Anna Khazaradze.
Kaylif’s debut feature, “The Letter Writer,” was shot in 2018 and stars Eslam Al-Kawarit and Rosy McEwen, who recently won a British Independent Film Award for her performance in “Blue Jean.” Set in 1960s Dubai, the film tells the story of a young boy who works as a professional letter writer for illiterate members of the community. When he falls in love with the object of one of his customer’s affections, he embarks on a journey of youthful awakening.
Part of the official selection at the Lebanese Independent Film Festival in 2019, “The Letter Writer” also featured in Film London’s Breakthrough showcase in 2020. Kaylif, who plays the boy’s mother in the film and penned the theme song, said the film is set for release later this year via Janson Media.
