Some Arab artists seek roles in international films in search of spread and achieve the goal of universality, and follow the example of the Egyptian artist Omar Sharif, who was followed in the footsteps of many actors such as Amr Waked and Khaled al-Nabawi, hoping to obtain a career that will leave an imprint in the world of Hollywood.
The young actor Ahmed Malik began these steps at the age of 25 by participating in one of the main roles in the Australian film "The Furnace".
Historical fiction
And "Furnas" means the furnace in which gold is melted to remove its features, as the story of the film, inspired by historical fiction, revolves around gold prospectors who migrated from India and Afghanistan to Australia. The film's script is based on 5 languages according to the story that revolves between different nationalities, and was filmed in the desert under Scorching sun and 55 degrees Celsius.
The events of the movie in Western Australia in 1897 revolve around gold mining trips by nomadic immigrants 150 years ago, where Ahmed Malik played the role of "Hanif", the Afghan camel driver, and a group of prospectors co-starring with him on a trip to search for two ounces of gold in a secret furnace. And an attempt to remove the distinctive gold marks for fear of police prosecution.
The film sheds light on the history of the Australian "gan" (foreign camel drivers), immigrants from the Muslim and Sikh Muslims of India, Afghanistan and Persia, who traveled through the vast Australian deserts and established unique bonds with the locals.
The selection of the Egyptian actor for the role of Hanif came after the director and author of the film, Roderick Mackay, was completely narrowed to choose a suitable actor, until he searched on Google for a Middle Eastern actor, and indeed he found a scene for Ahmed Malik in the series "Don't Blow Out the Sun", so he chose him for auditions. He succeeded in it immediately, but Malik had to learn the Afghan "bachu", the ancient Afghan history and the ancient language.
Mackay confirmed in media interviews that the old language had passed away its last fluent speaker a year before filming the movie, and they had to collect the words from the memory of the local community, which was very cumbersome, but Malik managed to get it, according to critics.
Malik's role varied between the Afghan and English languages, and the language was not an obstacle to him during the film's acting. His experience in "the oven" is his first international experience after his nomination for "Montreal Girls", directed and written by Patricia Cheka.
Prominent roles of owner
During the past years, Malek was a prominent contributor to the new Egyptian cinematic wave that brought Egyptian films back to the international arena, as he participated in the film "Ishtakab" directed by Mohamed Diab in 2016, which was shown at the International Festival of "Cannes", and won more than 24 awards in Regional and international film festivals.
Malik also participated in the official screening of "Engagement" as a representative of Egypt in the category of Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars in 2017, and "Sheikh Jackson" by Amr Salama, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017, and was shown. As a foreign film at the Oscar International Film Festival at the last minute, Ahmed Malik was nominated as a rising actor at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival among the top 7 other global young talents as the only Arab talent.
International participation in film festivals and international films is a good way to open new horizons for Arab actors, through which directors and filmmakers get to know them and are selected to participate in auditions before entering new film markets.