“I feel Cairo is a beautiful city. It’s very photogenic, it’s full, it has a character, and I never saw it in cinema in a way that was convincing for me. I knew that you can’t shape the city. You have to go into it. You propose something, and then wait to see what the city is giving you, and then you build on this.” — Tamer El Said
On the eve of the “Arab Spring,” an Egyptian filmmaker sets out to capture the soul of Cairo through moving images randomly shot on the bustling streets. To these short portraits Khalid mixes in interviews with his departing girlfriend and with an acting teacher who remembers another Egypt, now erased. His fellow filmmaking friends from Beirut, Bagdad, and Berlin agree to collaborate by sending images of their own cities. The four men all share an overwhelming sense of loss at what they thought their cities were. Combining documentary footage with his fictional narrative, El Said brings us a very provocative portrait of what is now happening to cities and communities worldwide.
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Directed by Tamer El Said
Egypt/Germany/UK/UAR, 2016, 1h 58min, DCP, In Arabic with English Subtitles
