Chief Omar Harb

Cairo as Told by Youssef Chahine

This concise masterpiece began as a commission by French TV for the news series Envoyé spécial. By filming Cairo with his unique sense of artistic digression, Chahine transformed this portrait of a city into the self-portrait of a filmmaker.

Chaos, This Is?

Hatem is a corrupt police officer, who loves his neighbor Nour, who in turn loves the prosecutor, Sherif. Hatem tries to win Nour’s attention even if by force.

Destiny

In the 12th century's Andalusia lives Ibn Rushd a prominent Islamic philosopher with his wife Zeinab and daughter Salma. The principality is ruled by Khalifa ElMansour who has two sons, ElNasser, an intellectual that likes Ibn Rush and is in love with his daughter Salma. The younger son Abdallah is more into dancing and poetry, spending most of his times with the gypsy family and getting the daughter pregnant. The Khalifa is depending on the extremists to build his army granting them more power which they use to combat artists and philosophers. The extremists succeed in recruiting Abd Allah and train him to kill his father. Events go on where Marawan, the gypsy singer, is killed and Ibn Rushd's books are burnt. Adapted from the real life of Ibn Rushd AlMasir is Chahine's statement against extremism.

Amar’s Hand

Following the death of her husband, Amar is left to carry out her deceased husband’s dream of building a brick house with her five children. The five boys move to Cairo to earn some money, but they struggle to make ends meet and achieve their dreams in the capital.

Alexandria... New York

An enthralling look at the relationship between America and the Arab World from an Arab perspective. It tells the story of Yehia, a renowned Egyptian filmmaker whose life has been shaped by a pair of disrupted love affairs, one with an American woman named Ginger, the other with America itself.

You Are My Life

Youssef, a successful architect is married to a beautiful woman, Hend, with a child. His life was steady until he discovers that he has cancer. He refuses to tell his family and travels for treatment alone where he met a ballerina who has cancer too and they fall in love.

The Storm

Ever wonder what it was like to be in the middle east during the Gulf War of the early 90s? Sure, many films and TV shows have portrayed what it was like for the UN forces. This film takes you into the melee from the perspective of Egyptians -- who were sharply divided about the war -- and their daily lives, which, as one sees, form the basis of their foundation for understanding/approaching the war. And it really is these "every day" realities that make up the bulk of the film.

Shehata's Store

Shehata is the son of a modest gardener who saved all his money to open a fruit stand and named it after his favorite son. Shehata's siblings get so jealous of their brother and plot against him. A representation of the downfall of society and its decaying morals.

Justified Betrayal

In this intriguing and entertaining thriller, Khalid Youssef tells the story of a young, rich man (Hani Salama) who kills his wife and his brother when he finds them in bed together. After he evades prosecution we start to wonder whether the killings were really spontaneous or if perhaps he had plotted everything in advance to get rid of both of them. Told from shifting perspectives in the style of Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, including those of the hero, his mistress and a police detective investigating the case, the film moves around the murders cleverly, in a manner as unconventional and exciting as the story itself. Very convincing characters are involved in a game that requires a hefty dose of imagination from the audience. The film contains violence.

The Emigrant

The biblical tale of Joseph is told from an Egyptian perspective in this interesting character study. In this film, Joseph is called Ram. Ram, tired of his family's backward superstitious life, and tired of being picked on by his brothers, wants to go to Egypt to study agriculture. His brothers travel with him across Sinai, but then suddenly sell him to Ozir, an Egyptian who works for a Theban military leader, Amihar. Amihar is impressed by Ram's drive and personal charm and so grants Ram some desolate land outside the capital. Ram soon finds himself a pawn in the political and sexual games between Amihar and his wife Simihit, a high priestess of the Cult of Amun.

Until Things Get Better

A film highlighting the issue of street children and the marginalized social class living under the pressure of economic conditions in a shanty district. Nahid escapes from her stepfather’s harassment only to become a victim of a horrible rape incident. She then becomes a dancer.

Zohra and Her Five Husbands

Zohra's beauty attracts an unimaginably large number of suitors. Her kindheartedness and love for all those who approach her lead her into trouble when she finds herself married to five men at the same time.

The Other

Adam is the son of a wealthy Egyptian-American family who is studying at UCLA and returns home for a brief vacation. Upon his arrival he meets beautiful reporter Hanane, with whom he begins an intense love affair, and eventually they marry. Trouble arises when Hanane' s journalistic interests lead her to the corrupt business affairs of Adam's parents, who are interested in building an American tourist compound that would allow Americans further control of Egypt's tourist industry, and make them a whole lot richer.

His All-Knowing Secret

Between the past and the present, the events of the series follow Sultan Hamed, a popular hero at the time of the French campaign who turns into a legend that has shrines in many villages of Egypt. At the same time, Hamed, a jewelry maker, devotes his life to revealing the sultan's secret and finds himself fleeing from antiquity smugglers.

Immobilia Crime Story

Kamel Helmy is a famous writer, in the late 1940s, living in Cairo, in the famous Imobilia building, after the death of his wife and the departure of his children from home. He suffers from loneliness and schizophrenia. One day he calls a girl named Samah who had befriended Facebook in an attempt to ease his isolation.

Silence... We're Rolling

Malak is a star singer who lives with her mother and her daughter, Loula, in her villa after her divorce. She falls in love with an opportunist called Lam'ey, so her daughter sets out to expose him with the help of her lover, a driver called Nasser, and the director, Ezz-ElDin who deeply loves Malak.