Young Anna is from Romania and old Noun is from Egypt. They are neighbours in a rundown building in Paris. They share the same interest in idle news but they hate to talk about themselves. Yet, old secrets are unveiled, little by little. A curious collection of styles and genres focussed on an Egyptian film operator who passes his old age in a small apartment in Paris. A Cloud in a Glass of Water starts as a documentary: the grandson of Monsieur Noun films while the old man talks about his deceased lover and the days when he screened films during the British rule in Cairo. Then Anna, the woman next door - played by Anamaria Marinca from 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu, 2007) - becomes involved in the project. From then on, the film ricochets in different directions. Fiction, biography, animation, mystery, detective story - the life of Monsieur Noun has too many stories in it to be captured in one form. Samarasinghe’s debut, loosely based on the life of his grandpa, who was a film operator in Sri Lanka, playfully explores the possibilities of the medium. A Cloud in a Glass of Water is a bitter-sweet ode to friendship and precious memories that on occasion can be intensely moving.
