Synopsis: Blind Ambition is a nine-part video shot throughout one day in the streets of Cairo. It features nine social situations that take place in public spaces. Shot with two mobile phones, Blind Ambition gives the impression of using real-time, factual footage material. Deprived of ambient sound, and with dubbed in voices, it is a video about material culture during the Egyptian revolution. Continue reading
From IMDB:
I was very curious to see this Egyptian action/crime thriller from 1973, and boy, was it worth the wait! Similar in a lot of ways to the Italian films of this type, this one features gun fights, car chases, lots of nudity, askew camera angles, lots of hand-held camera work (though more out of budgetary constraints, than any post-modern considerations, ala Michael Bay, Tony Scott, etc), and just plain weirdness. A few scenes are effectively done in the style of giallos, and there’s quite a few surprises in the deceptively linear story. Some scenes and effects are laughably inept (like the point blank shooting of a naked woman where the squib turns out to be dry…!?), but the overall package is so deliriously trippy, you hardly mind the flubs. there is even a touch of lesbianism and a (possible) hint of incest in the script, which is familiar in places but accumulates enough elements to appear somewhat unique. But despite the crudeness of style and the sleaze, the film manages to say something meaningful, and end on a poignant note…just when I thought it was going towards a more happy ending. I love this baby, and I want to see more Arabic films like this one (if indeed there are any). apparently the film was later banned in Egypt, but that’s all good in my book. Continue reading
Set against the panoramic backdrop of war-torn Egypt, director Youssef Chahine tells a highly personal tale of love and determination. Amid the poverty, death and suffering caused by World War II, 18 year-old Yehia, retreats into a private world of fantasy and longing. Obsessed with Hollywood, he dreams of one day studying filmmaking in America, but after falling in love and discovering the lies of European occupation, Yehia profoundly reevaluates his identity and allegiances.
The first chapter of Chahine’s Alexandria Trilogy: Alexandria…Why?, An Egyptian Story and Alexandria Again and Forever. Continue reading
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Universally panned by Egypt’s cinema audiences when it was first released in 1958, Youssef Chahine’s “Cairo Station” disappeared from view for two decades until it was rediscovered and hailed as a masterpiece. Watching the film now, almost half a century after its first screening, it’s easy to see why it upset so many people “Cairo Station” is a pressure cooker of lust, jealousy, and psychosis.
Crippled Kenaoui (Chahine), nicknamed “Limpy” by his cruel co-workers, sells newspapers in Cairo’s central station. Living out on the tracks, earning barely enough to keep the makeshift roof over his head, he spends his days fantasising about the voluptuous Hanuma (Rostom), a lemonade seller engaged to macho porter Abou Serib (Chawqi). Kenaoui’s convinced she’ll eventually fall in love with him if he keeps pursuing her. But with a murderer on the loose in Cairo, things may yet take an unexpected turn. Continue reading
This film can be considered one of the world’s best movies, actually it was chosen on top of the best 100 movies in Egypt. The movie is adopted from a novel written by Abdel Rahman El Sharkawi and was directed by Youssef Shahin. Abdel Rahman El Sharkawi is a well known novelist and play-writer, in fact he’s much more recognized for the plays he wrote. The movie “El-Ard” was produced in 1969, which falls inn a very important period of time in the Egyptian history, at this time the Egyptian ideology was being restructured. As for the film itself, I would start by the choice of actors, when you think of the actors that were in Egypt at that time, you can’t find a replacement for any of the actors in the movie, and you feel that no one else can play in any of the roles. I would start by the Great actor Mahmoud El-Meliguy. His performance in this movie is like an intense lecture in the art of acting, Mohamed Abu Swelam, that character he played is so nicely written by Abdel Rahman El Sharkawi, it’s a character facing so many struggles and at the same time with a history to be proud of, but it reached a point where he feels helpless in the struggle between him and the rich man in his village, who is connected to the Egyptian Royal palace (the time of the story was before Egypt changed from a kingdom to a republic). Continue reading
Which is more powerful, Love or Revenge?
For over an hour and half of enjoyment watching this magnificent story and special movie you will ask your self this question, which is more powerful?
Amna (played by the Legendary Faten Hamama) is a young sister that watches the death of her older sister by her Uncle, the guy that abandoned her family and left them with no support. She hears from her mother that her sister was killed because she dishonors the family and based on their culture, she deserve to die. Amna doesn’t think so; she believes that her uncle was the one to blame for what they are suffering from. She switches her focus and revenge to the engineer who fooled her sister and lied to her (role played by Ahmed Mazhar) and was a direct cause for her death. Amna moves to his house to work as maid and tried to poison him many times, but her plans always fails. She discovers after a while that she can’t kill, she doesn’t have the power to kill. This engineer keep playing with her try to have fun, but she kept resist him. The more she resisted, the more he was attracted to her and finally he loved her. The poor girl thought that by making him falling in love with her would destroy his life. What she didn’t count for was her heart started to click signals for that guy. Her plan was to dig a hole for him and through him in it, but she fell in the hole with him. Continue reading
In this Andre Gide adaptation, an activist is released after many years in prison and returns home, shaking up established relationships among his family members at the farm governed by his strict father. Demonstrating Chahine’s eclecticism, this is an elegant melodrama, exuberant musical, layered allegory, and profound portrait of personal and political disillusionment. (www.bam.org) Continue reading
