In the Last Days of the City
UW Cinematheque 821 University Ave., UW Vilas Hall, Room 4070, Madison, Wisconsin
press release:
Tamer El Said in person!
IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE CITY (AKHER AYAM EL MADINA)
Egypt | 2016 | DCP | 118 min. | Arabic with English subtitles
Director: Tamer El Said
Cast: Khalid Abdalla, Laila Samy, Hanan Youssef
On the cusp of the 2011 Egyptian revolution, an overwhelmed young filmmaker (The Kite Runner’s Khalid Abdalla) struggles to complete a project about Cairo. This reflexive drama of creative stalemate and political alienation has won comparisons to 1960s masterworks 8 1/2 and Memories of Underdevelopment, but as an immersive portrait of a city in flux, it discovers poetry entirely its own. Director Tamer El Said will be present for a Q&A after the screening. Presented with support from UW Madison’s Middle Eastern Studies program. Special thanks to Jonathan Howell, Nevine El-nossery and Jon Vickers.
Premiere Showcase is the Cinematheque’s effort to bring the boldest and most exciting new cinema back to the big screen. Crafted with the same curatorial acuity we bring to our repertory series, Premiere Showcase presents exciting new work by contemporary directors that would otherwise have no theatrical venue in the area. Our selections for this calendar include two acclaimed films from this year’s Sundance Film Festival: the Zellner Brothers’ Western comedy Damsel and Panos Cosmatos’ visionary revenge fantasy Mandy, starring a delightfully unhinged Nicolas Cage. Also in September, Casting is a new German movie that exposes the sometimes harmful casting process for a remake of a Fassbinder classic. Plus, Egyptian filmmaker Tamer El Said will appear in person to discuss his meta-film about filmmaking In the Last Days of the City, and our annual collaboration with Madison’s Asian-American Media Spotlight brings two films to the Cinematheque: Miao Wang’s documentary Maineland and the contemplative drama August at Akiko’s.
All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public.