Cactus Flower

Both Mahmoud and Zeinab join hands to search for the original version of the first Egyptian independent film that was made back in the 1980s, all copies of which were either destroyed or confiscated for unknown reasons by the government film agency, an entity that governed film production and distribution at the time.

Set in a confined world outside time, East of Noon is the fable of prodigy Abdo (19) who uses music to rebel against his elders: showman Shawky (70), an eccentric showman who rules with a mix of performance and fear, and storyteller Jalala (75), who provides relief with stories of the Sea, which no one else has seen. East of Noon is a satire on the inner workings of an ailing autocracy and its inherent vulnerability to youth’s unchained vision of a better world.