Since 2014, Egypt’s military and police leaders have been increasingly taking charge of all the state’s leading positions and civil society. Syndicates, media, press, and political parties are quasi-controlled by the state, leading to the closure of a free public sphere.
Despite having not seen the film, dozens of pro-state figures and media institutions have repeated the accusations, calling for the film to be banned and the film director to be “held accountable” because of using poverty as its storytelling device, which is not necessarily political, but touches on several societal diseases in contemporary Egypt.
Synopsis
Omar el-Zohairy’s film, which scooped up the Cannes International Film Festival Critics Week award, tells the story of a lumpenproletariat family in a dirty and dusty city that resembles an abandoned storehouse.
The family comprises a loud patriarchal working father, a
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