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On Romantics and Outsiders: The Cinema of Yousry NasrallahOctober 18 - 24, 2012
Bursting onto the scene with his first feature film, Summer Thefts, in 1988, Yousry Nasrallah reinvigorated Egyptian cinema with this devastating portrait of childhood friendship and its various permutations as the characters grow into adulthood during the turbulent social and cultural upheaval of the 1960s. Since then, Nasrallah’s work has been at the forefront of Egyptian cinema, exploring different genres and themes, never shying away from turning popular convention on its head.
The cast of vagabonds and outsiders populating his films—often living on the margins of a society that has long discounted them—transcend the usual depiction of Egyptians and provide a crucial window into the soul of a nation, one caught between the incurable nostalgia of the past and the fraught realities of the present. Nasrallah’s films, such as Mercedes (1993) and El-Madina (1999) are vibrant, satirical portraits of modern Egypt, unflinchingly examining societal decay and the pervading sense of unease and despair. This retrospective will take a keen look into Nasrallah’s influential body of work, how it negotiated the realities of post-Nasser Mubarak Egypt, and serve as a portend of the revolutionary events to come.
Yousry Nasrallah
Born 1952 in Cairo. After studying economics and political science, he went to live in Lebanon where he became a journalist. He began his career in film in 1980 as assistant to Volker Schlöndorff on Die Fälschung and to Youssef Chahine on Al-Dhakira and Adieu Bonaparte which he also co-wrote. In 1987, he directed his first film Summer Thefts, produced by Youssef Chahine and considered as one of the films that most contributed to the revival of Egyptian cinema. He carried on his collaboration with Chahine in Alexandria Again and Forever (1990) and Cairo as Seen by Chahine (1991). In 1994, he directed Marcides and, in 1995, the documentary On Boys, Girls and the Veil. In 1999, El Madina was awarded the Special Jury Prize in Locarno Film Festival. In 2004, his film The Gate of Sun (Bab El Chams), taken from Elias Khoury's novel, was presented in the Cannes Official Selection (out of competition). In 2012, his film After the Battle was presented in the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival.
For more information about Yousry Nasrallah, articles and interviews, click here.
This program is presented by ArteEast, curated by Mohammad Shawky Hassan, Director of Film Programs at ArteEast, and made possible through the generous support of the New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Consulate General of Egypt in New York, Misr International Films, The Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at NYU, and several individual donors. A special thank you to Magda Saleh, Marianne Khoury and Yasmin Desouki for all their efforts for this program.
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Mercedes (Marcides)
1993, 108 minutes, Egypt/ France, Arabic with English Subtitles
Thurs 18 Oct, 8:00 p.m. (presented by Nasrallah)
Friday 19 Oct, 9:00 p.m.
The central character in "Mercedes", a surrealist comedy satirizing the political and social strains tearing at the Egyptian society, is a misfit named Noubi. The product of a secret liaison between his wealthy mother, Warda, and an African diplomat, Noubi is raised as a Christian and grows up not knowing his true paternity. When his uncle asks him to aid in the search for his cousin, Gamal, he descends into the city’s dark underworld of corruption and darkness. More
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The City (Al Madina)
1999, 108 min, Egypt/ France, Arabic and French with English Subtitles
Fri 19 Oct, 6:30 p.m. (presented by Nasrallah)
Mon 22 Oct, 6:30 p.m.
Frustrated with life as a butcher's assistant and under his father's thumb, Ali (Bassem Samra) heads for Paris, only to discover that the only work he can get as an illegal immigrant is as a boxer in rigged fights. Nasrallah uses melodrama to depict life in Cairo, and Neorealist grit for Paris—his mix of genres makes for a film as amiable as its hero. More
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The Gate of the Sun (Bab El Shams)
Fiction, 2003, 278 minutes, France, Arabic with English Subtitles
Saturday 20 October, 6.00 p.m. (Part 1) & 8.00 p.m. (Part 2), Presented by Nasrallah
Sunday 21 October, 3.00 p.m. (Part 1) & 5.00 p.m. (Part 2)
Yousry Nasrallah's powerful adaptation of Lebanese writer Elias Khoury's epic novel of fifty years of Palestinian dispossession, exile, and resistance. The film follows the flight of Younes, his wife Nahila, and those around them, from their village in northern Palestine to a refugee camp in Lebanon. Some vow to continue the struggle, most simply struggle to survive. More
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On Boys and Girls (Sobyan Wa Banat)
Documentary, 1995, 72 minutes, Arabic with English Subtitles
Sunday 21 October, 8.00 p.m. (presented by Nasrallah)
Wednesday 24 October, 6.30 p.m.
With his leading protagonist and friend, Bassam Samra, director Yousry Nasrallah takes us on an exquisite tour of a subject normally overdramatized by the West. Taking the debate beyond the simplistic approach and with familiarity rarely seen, young men and women talk about the ‘hijab’ and its social implications.
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Summer Thefts (Sarikat Sayfeyah)
Fiction, 1988, 102 minutes, Arabic with English Subtitles
Monday 22 October, 9.00 p.m. (presented by Nasrallah)
Tuesday 23 October, 6.30 p.m.
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. More
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The Aquarium (Genenet al Asmak)
Fiction, 2008, 90 minutes, Egypt/ France/ Germany, Arabic with English Subtitles
Tuesday 23 October, 9.00 p.m. (presented by Nasrallah)
Wednesday 24 October, 8.00 p.m.
Youssef is a hotshot anesthesiologist who often sleeps in his car for privacy. Laila (Hend Sabri) is the careerist host of a late night radio call-in show. These two members of Cairo's elite, lost souls traveling parallel paths of longing and disconnection, are the principal fish in Yousry Nasrallah'sThe Aquarium, a meditation on the intellectual capital of the Middle East, now bent under the sway of repression in all its forms. More
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Short Films by Yousry Nasrallah
Saturday 20 October, 4.00 p.m. (presented by Nasrallah)
Although Nasrallah’s first film was a feature-length (Summer Thefts), only one year later, he directed two short films (One Day with Youssef Chahine & The Extra). Seventeen years later, he directed a segment in the feature-length film 18 Days, which came as a response to the first wave of the Egyptian revolution by ten filmmakers, each directing a short segment. The film was screened at Cannes Film Festival in 2011, where Egypt was the guest of honor. The program will include these three rarely seen shorts by Nasrallah. More
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