24 Sep 2014

FILM SCREENING :MIDDLE EAST MOVIE NIGHTS – EGYPT

proudly present

Middle East Movie Nights – Egypt

This is the third serving this year of the Middle East Movie Nights; a collaborative venture between the NUS Middle East Institute and The Arts house which is on its third year now. The September screenings feature a double bill of classic Egyptian movies Alexandria…why? (24 September, 7.30pm) and Summer Thefts (25 September, 7.30pm).

One of Youssef Chahine’s classic movies, Alexandria..Why? portrays lovers struggling to find happiness in Egypt during the chaos of World War II. Yehia (Mohsen Mohiedine) is a teenage boy who is fascinated with the glamour of Hollywood movies, and he escapes into a rich fantasy world to free himself from the horror around him. But as he learns more about the horrors of the Nazi occupation of Europe, it becomes harder for him to ignore life’s grim realities, especially after he falls in love with a local girl.

Award: Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize in the 29th Berlin International Film Festival

SUMMER THEFTS

Set in the summer of 1961 during Nasser’s land reforms, Summer Thefts is the story of a childhood friendship between the son of a bourgeois landowner and the son of an Egyptian peasant. Their relationship intensifies in adulthood, but the two are separated as one becomes a journalist in Beirut during the 1982 Israeli invasion and the other leaves for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. Nasrallah’s Summer Thefts is one of the first films to examine the effects this period had on both the bourgeoisie and the peasants of Egypt during this turbulent time.

Award: Appeared in Cannes Film Festival 1988

Registration Desk open from 7pm onwards

Do arrive early for registrations in order to avoid delay of the screening