Matinee

Series/Themes: Middle Eastern & South Asian Sidebar

Genre: Drama, International

Accessibility: Subtitles

Film Year: 2016

Locations: USA

Film Length: 118 min.

Languages: Arabic

Subtitles: Subtitled

Director: Tamer El Said.

Featuring: Khalis Abdalla, Laila Samy, Hanan Youssef, Mariam Saleh Saad, Hayder Helo, Basim Hajar.

Khalid, a 35-year-old documentary filmmaker, is struggling to complete a film that captures the spirit of his home: Cairo. Set in the year prior to the Arab Spring of 2010, Khalid is constantly grappling with his personal, artistic endeavors and his fears for the instability of the city’s future. Hearing of his difficulties, his friends send documentary footage from their own lives in Beirut, Baghdad, and Berlin. Khalid finds inspiration in their stories to embrace the beauty and difficulty of capturing the meaning of homeland, leaning into the personal and political to present an honest portrait of an unsettled city. Introduction by Maya Boutaghou (UVA)

Supported by the Institute for Humanities and Global Cultures and the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures