Al-Kahira thalatin

introduction: Marguerite Farag (English only)

It is Salah Abu Saif’s adaptation of Naguib Mahfouz’s (Nobel literature laureate) novel Modern
Cairo. The film was made during the Nasserist era and asserts its resistance and socialist
values. Multiple characters and storylines intersect to draw a mosaic of Cairo during the 30s
within the backdrop of British interference and oppressive local governance. A society struggling
within a colonial structure forces people to moral decay in order to ascend in status and in
finances. Cairo University* occupies the first frame of the film with the different characters’ paths
diverging. echoescThe same location is used in Chahine’s film, where Cairo University occupies
the voice of the students’ resistance.
Cairo 30 compliments the previous program celebrating Chahine´s centenary, as the film also
tackles the dissonance between unfulfilled desires in the face of an oppressing system.