DIFF at The Pavilion - A focus on Damascus and Cairo
This month's edition of Dubai International Film Festival's at The Pavilion invites you to watch two award winning films that present a "realistic and fascinating insight into life in the Arab world".
Monday, 24th June at 7.30pm
Dreams of the City (1983)
Director: Mohammad Malas
Running time: 120 mins
Mohammad Malas’ masterpiece Dreams of the City takes us back to Damascus in the fifties and tells the story of a young widow and her two sons are who are forced to move from their native Quneitra to Damascus, where her brutish father offers little emotional or financial support, forcing all of them to fend for themselves.
Against the backdrop of successive military coups that punctuated the turbulent 1950s in Syria, Adib, the eldest of the two boys, comes of age in the overwhelming urban magic of Damascus.
Tuesday, 25th June at 7.30pm
Birds of the Nile (2009)
Director: Magdy Ahmed Ali
Running time: 115 mins
Based on Ibrahim Aslan's novel by the same name, Magdy Ahmed Ali’s Birds of the Nile is an artful look into the lives of a rural family that moves to Cairo and struggles to make a name for themselves.
Over decades, the city turns hopelessly naive Abdel Rahim (Fathi Abdel Wahab) into one of its many victims as he suffers a broken heart and eagerly searches for a suitable replacement for his beloved Bassima. Meanwhile, his sister and her family struggle to stay afloat as they slowly retreat to the outskirts of society.
Event details
Dates: 24th-25th June at 7.30pm
Venue: The Pavilion Downtown, Dubai Emaar Boulevard, Downtown Dubai (location map)
Phone: +971 4 4477025
Free entry and seating is on a first come, first sit basis.