Freerunning
Check Dominic Di Tommaso's freerunning film Dom-ination Cairo
Watch what happened when parkour athlete Dominic Di Tommaso plied his trade around the ancient sites of Egypt in the blistering hot summer.
It’s the sweltering Egyptian summer and freerunner Dominic Di Tommaso decided to run across Cairo, passing through the famous historical highlights of the city along the way.
The video clip above was shot only in three days, in six locations. Passing through the Pyramids, Khan el Khalili Old Market, The Sphinx, The Nile, Salah El-Din Citadel and the Nazlet el Semman urban area, near to the Pyramids.
I was drawn to the freedom aspect of parkour
Issues with the weather and logistical challenges almost stopped the shoot, but the crew were able to pull it off and finish it on time, with no compromises on the parkour or the content.
We stopped Dom for a chat about his experience of the shoot:
Was the shoot more or less what you'd expected?
Egypt was a mind-blowing experience and the shoot was everything I could expect and more. We got to see these amazing locations.
What was the hardest move/trick during the shoot?
The hardest move, surprisingly, was dive-rolling over the camels. It took a lot of co-ordination to place them in the right positions and then to have the cameras at the correct angles, not to mention that the sand beneath them was quite soft.
Getting a fresh angle on Cairo
© Dan Vojtěch/Red Bull Content Pool
A window of opportunity
© Dan Vojtěch/Red Bull Content Pool
Browsing the market stalls
© Dan Vojtěch/Red Bull Content Pool
Prepare for boarders
© Dan Vojtěch/Red Bull Content Pool
If you want to deliver one message from this shoot to your audience, what it would be?
It would be to go and visit Egypt; go and see the amazing history and culture. The people are so welcoming and the culture is so friendly. I can’t recommend it enough.
What was the biggest takeaway from the shoot?
The thing I learned the most from this shoot was to discover my physical limits. Being able to shoot for long days in this heat was really a good test to find out how much I could actually put out, while maintaining my performance over three days.
Would you say there's an Egyptian parkour community?
There's a strong Egyptian parkour community from what I’ve seen online, they seem like a fantastic bubbly community. I advise them to just keep doing parkour and getting the name of parkour out there in any way that will lead to legitimise it to the general public to really help the sport move forward.
Who’s Omar Mokbel and how did you come together?
He’s someone that I was recommended to hang out with by my friend Jason Paul. Omar’s a very special member of the parkour community in Egypt. He’s a lovely guy, who really wants to see parkour grow. We connected before I came to Egypt and he has been hanging out with me during the shoot. He really helped a lot. Thanks Omar!
