Cinema Can Do Cairo: Akher ayam el madina

IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE CITY is set in winter 2009/10. Downtown Cairo is an organism still seemingly alive but becoming progressively less familiar even to those born there. Khalid is looking for an apartment. He’s a filmmaker. He keeps looking at his images as if waiting to see if they will make sense to him. The more he looks for connection in real life, the more it seems to evaporate: his girlfriend leaves him and his mother is dying. Three filmmaker friends from Beirut, Bagdad and Berlin visit him and decide to send him video material from their cities to support him. With the revolution, reality began to overtake the film. The biographies of the protagonist and the director increasingly began to blur. At the same time, something new was created: together with others, Tamer El Said set up the Cimatheque – Alternative Film Centre. Initially conceived of as a cinema and meeting point, it developed into a living film archive. From the very beginning, it has been closely connected to Arsenal, a friendship that has left traces in both cities. (stss)