El Medina

Egypt, France

1999

108 Min

Color

Arabic, French

Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
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PROD Humbert Balsan, Gabriel Khoury, Marianne Khoury

SCR Nasser Abdel-Rahmane, Claire Denis, Yousry Nasrallah

CAST Bassem Samra, Ahmed Fouad Selim, Abla Kamel, Roschdy Zem, Inês de Medeiros, Amr Saad, Basma Ahmad, Sarry El-Naggar, Messaoud Hattau, Youssra

PROD DES Alain-Georges Ferrero, Salah Merei

MUSIC Tamer Karaouan

Toronto, Locarno: C.I.C.A.E. Award, Swissair/Crossair Special Prize, Youth Jury Award - Special Mention

Synopsis

A young Egyptian with acting ambitions leaves his country for France with dreams of becoming a movie star, much to the disgust of his father, who wants him to move to Saudi Arabia and get rich. —IMDb

Director

Born 1952 in Cairo. After studying economics and political science, he went to live in Lebanon where he became a journalist. He began his career in film in 1980 as assistant to Volker Schlöndorff on Die Fälschung and to Youssef Chahine on Al-Dhakira and Adieu Bonaparte which he also co-wrote. In 1987, he directed his first film Summer Thefts, produced by Youssef Chahine and considered as one of the films that most contributed to the revival of Egyptian cinema. He carried on his collaboration with Chahine as co-director of Alexandria Again and Forever (1990) and Cairo as Seen by Chahine (1991). In 1994, he directed Marcides and, in 1995, the documentary On Boys, Girls and the Veil. In 1999, El Medina was awarded the Special Jury Prize in Locarno Film Festival. In 2004, his film The Gate of Sun (Bab El Chams), taken from Elias Khoury’s novel, was presented in the Cannes Official Selection (out of competition). —Cannes Film Festival