Safar: A Journey Through Popular Arab Cinema

The Friday Forum brings together internationally renowned experts and leaders from both the academic world and the film industry to debate the past, present and the future of Arab Cinema.

The first post-war musical made in Lebanon, this road movie exploring culture clashes is an enduring pop classic. Introduced by director Philippe Aractingi.

Starring Soad Hosni, the ‘Marilyn Monroe’ of Arab cinema, who plays Zouzou, secretly paying her way through college by belly-dancing. Introduced by Hussein Fahmy, co-star of Watch Out for Zouzou

A politically charged family melodrama set in northern Beirut, 1976. It follows bride-to-be Noha who sneaks off to the woods with her lover and discovers something devastating that changes her mind completely and forces her to take control of her own life.

Directed by Salah Abouseif – one of Egypt’s significant realist filmmakers – the film charts the life of a modest Egyptian family after their patriarch’s death. Boasting one of the most notorious endings in Arab film history, this 35mm of The Beginning and the End is not to be missed.

Alexandria, Why? focuses on a precocious adolescent whose dreams and colourful attempts to become an actor unfold against the vivid backdrop of Alexandria during World War II. Introduced by Omar Kholeif, curator of Safar.

A universal story of friendship, inspiration and heroism, directed by one of the Arab world’s most successful contemporary film directors. Post-screening Q&A with star Nadim Sawalha and director Amin Matalqa.

A farce denouncing the absurdity of bureaucracy in modern Egypt, starring comedy legend Adel Imam - often compared to Charlie Chaplin. Introduced by Malu Halasa, Safar writer-in-residence.

The only Egyptian film in recent memory to be led by an all female production team, One-Zero is a multi-strand narrative melodrama set on the eve of the 2008 Africa Nations Cup final. Post-screening Q&A with Khaled Abol Naga, star of One-Zero

An eye-catching construction, the Yacoubian Building in Cairo was long regarded as the last word in comfort and elegance. Nowadays, the veneer has cracked and the shine has dulled to reveal the truth underneath the façade. Post-screening Q&A with director Marwan Hamed.