Adapted from Alaa Al-Aswany's best-selling 2002 novel, director Marwan Hamed's debut feature is a breathtakingly audacious examination of contemporary Cairo. The action is centered around the residents of the Yaacoubian, a luxury building built in the late 1930s beginning to show clear signs of decay, with rooftop laundry facilities doubling as flats for the less fortunate. The lives and loves of a handful of Egyptian aristocrats –some flush, others living in shabby gentility– set the stage for this epic-scale drama.

Tackling everything from Islamic fundamentalism to homosexuality and corruption, the film was a cause célèbre on its release in Egypt where it proceeded to smash box office records and spark unprecedented debate. Featuring a cast that reads as a who's who of the best in Arab film talent, Hamed's film unveils the underbelly of a traditional society coping with modernization. Egypt's official submission to the Oscars. In Arabic w/English subtitles.

Followed by a reception hosted by The American University in Cairo.

Born in 1977, Marwan Hamed graduated from the High Institute for Cinema in 1999. He has worked as an assistant director for many Egyptian filmmakers, including Sherif Arafa, Samir Seif, and Khairy Beshara, in addition to directing commercials. In 2001, he directed the short film Lily, which won prizes at the 2002 Carthage Film Festival, and the 2002 Milan Film Festival. He has also made several short films, including two short documentaries. The Yaacoubian Building is his debut feature film.