Stockholm Film Festival

The beautiful, old Yacoubian building in Cairo resides many tenants. Among them are the financially blessed: sleazy bootblack-turned-businessman Haj, the old ladies-man Zaki Pasha (Egyptian superstar Adel Emam), who shares a flat with his crazed sister, and Hatem Rachid, who has a distinguished taste not only in culture, but also in young, savoury men. The poor stay on the roof of the building, under the starry sky: Taha, who dreams of becoming a police officer but when rejected, turns to religion; Bosnaina, who becomes disillusioned by constantly having to fight the carnal needs of her bosses.Through these characters, the film embraces larger subjects. The building itself becomes an allegory of modern Egypt, struck by poverty, illiteracy, class difference, patriarchal structure, repression, religious hypocrisy and greed. Hamed manages to dig deep into the soul of this troubled nation, but holds a highly sensitive ear to the fascinating story of both his characters and his native country.ELIN LARSSON

Premiärstatus

Svensk premiär

Orig. titel

Omaret Yacoubian

Medverkande

Adel Imam, Yousra, Nour El Sherif, Hind Sabry, Isaad Younis

Producent

Imad Adeeb

Manus

Waheed Hamed

Foto

Sameh Selim

Musik

Khaled Hammad

Talat språk

Arabic

 

Andra filmer från sektionen Spotlight

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