THE SANDWICH + THE COUNTRYSIDE DOCTOR + CAIRO IS ILLUMINATED BY ITS PEOPLE

الساندويتشAl-Sandwich
The Sandwich
Ateyyat El Abnoudy, Egypt 1975, 12 min., no dialogue

 طبيب في الأرياف Tabib Fi-l-Aryaf 
The Countryside Doctor
Khairy Beshara, Egypt 1975
, 22 min., OV with English subtitles

القاهرة منورة بأهلها Al-qahira menauwwara bi Ahlaha
Cairo Is Illuminated by Its People
Youssef Chahine, Egypt/France 1991, 23 min., OV with English subtitles

In Cairo is Illuminated by Its People Youssef Chahine tried to capture the soul of overcrowded Cairo, its people, and everyday life. When the film premiered in Cannes, he was accused of giving the West a false image of Egypt by showing Cairo’s poverty and the film was eventually banned. We show the documentary along with two internationally unknown little gems by Khairy Beshara and Ateyyat El Abnoudy. The three films reflect different views on everyday life in Egypt, one in Cairo, the other two in rural parts of the country.

Viola Shafik, PhD, is a filmmaker, film curator, and scholar. She is an expert on Arab cinema and currently holds the position of a researcher at the Art History Department at Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich.