Africa Is a Country

Egypt on Film

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Egypt on Film

By
Tom Devriendt

Aflam, a new Belgian "festival of Arab cinema," features seven new and recent films about Egypt in Brussels.

Poster of "At Night, They Dance."

If you’re anywhere near Brussels this weekend, a stop at BOZAR, might be worth your time. As part of Aflam, a new Belgian “festival of Arab cinema,” the Center has programmed seven new and recent films about Egypt, with some of the directors attending.

The festival will include three documentaries: At Night, They Dance,  by Isabelle Lavigne and Stéphane Thibault, is a family chronicle about a clan of women in which the profession as a dancer is passed down from mother to daughter; The Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni, a documentary by Rania Stephan, recounts the career of the legendary and influential Egyptian actress, “who was to Arab cinema what Umm Kulthum was to Arab song”; and  Omar Shargawi and Karim El Hakim’s 1/2 Revolution tells their version of last year’s revolution through footage filmed while in the middle of it:

And four fiction films: 18 Days is a collection of ten short films, both real and imagined stories, made by ten directors focusing on the revolution;  the 2010 film El-Shouq (‘Desire’ or ‘Longing’) by director Khaled El-Hagar explores the goings-on in an unnamed Alexandrian street and the lives of its inhabitants. The film was nominated to represent Egypt in the Best Foreign Language Film section at this year’s Oscars; and Hesham Issawi’s Cairo Exit tells the story of Amal and Tarek; and Ibrahim El Batout’s Hawi “looks at the idleness, hopes, and disillusion of everyday life in Alexandria as experienced by a range of characters played by non-professional actors.”

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