Sinai, Egypt
UK
In Guest Star members of the Mzeina tribe reenact a traditional story of hospitality. Bedouin hospitality is internationally well known and used in tourism marketing and identity branding in many Middle Eastern and North African countries. Hospitality has evolved because it is essential. Not offering a visitor water or food in such a harsh environment could be fatal. Hospitality goes beyond tribal affiliation and is also the basis for diplomacy between different families and groups. In this story of the Guest Star the 'borders' of hospitality are defined both spatially and temporally. Members of the Mzeina tribe are settling down for the night around a fire, when a visitor from another tribe - looking for his goats - joins them. The hosts welcome their guest and offer him a drink. But what are the boundaries of the hospitality they should provide? Should they also offer him a meal? All they need to do, to see what is expected is to stand up to check to see if a particular star, called the 'guest star' is still in the sky, or it has already disappeared from view. When they check, they find the star is still visible in the night sky. So they know what to do and offer their visitor a full meal.
Part of a series of films from A Different Sense of Space: How Bedouins Mapped the Sinai https://bedouinborders.org/