20th Arab Film Festival

Sunday, September 27 at 11:00 AM

ABOUT THE FILM

A stirring opening sequence transports us backstage to Umm Kulthum’s historic 1967 concert at the Olympia in Paris. Fans had crossed oceans to see her. Hamed shifts back and forth in time, imagining key moments in Umm Kulthum’s trajectory as an artist and as a woman, both strong and delicate. He traces her ascent—from reciting religious liturgies disguised as a boy in her village in El Senbellawein to singing languorous love songs at the biggest theatres in Cairo. This sprawling biopic chronicles the life of legendary Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum, a treasure of the Arab world. With a remarkable lead performance by Mona Zaki, filmmaker Marwan Hamed celebrates the beloved performer who best echoed the aspirations and struggles of her time.

FILMMAKER BIO

Egyptian filmmaker Marwan Hamed began his career with the award-winning short film Lilly. His multi-award-winning debut feature-length film The Yacoubian Building screened at the Festival de Cannes and Berlin, Chicago, and Marrakech International film festivals. His subsequent films include Ibrahim Labyad; The Blue Elephant, which won nine awards from the Egyptian Film Society and the Grand Nile Prize at the Luxor African Film Festival; The Originals; Diamond Dust, which won the Grand Prize at the Casablanca Arab Film Festival; The Blue Elephant 2; and Kira & El Gin, which earned ten Egyptian Film Society Awards and three Joy Awards. El Sett had its world premiere at the Marrakech International Film Festival.

PRESENTED BY MIZNA

Mizna is a critical platform for contemporary literature, film, art, and cultural production centering the work of Arab and Southwest Asian and North African artists. For more than 25 years, Mizna has been creating a decolonized cultural space to reflect the expansiveness of our community and to foster exchange, examine ideas, and engage audiences in meaningful art.