The award-winning Egyptian film In the Last Days of the City will be screened at the Days of Cinema, an ongoing event that spans the five Palestinian cities of Ramallah, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nablus and Gaza. Directed by Egyptian filmmaker Tamer El-Said, In the Last Days of the City sees his alter-ego, actor Khalid Abdalla, as a Cairo-based filmmaker struggling to make a film about the city, which is in a state of uproar. The shooting for the film, which also stars Laila Samy and Hanan Youssef, began in 2008, taking the filmmakers to Cairo, Alexandria, Beirut, Baghdad and Berlin, and bringing together many talents from the Arab world. The film premiered in 2016 at the Berlinale, where it received the Caligari award, and later won the Grand Prix at the Polish MFF T-Mobile Nowe Horyzonty Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland. Co-produced by Zero Production, the film was written by El-Said and Rasha Salti. The film's art director is late artist Salah Marei. In the Last Days of the City is the only Egyptian entry in Days of Cinema, which brings together international and Palestinian film professionals and screens numerous films in a number of categories. Organised by FilmLab, this year's Days of Cinema, which runs between 17 and 23 October, offers a rich programme of films from the Arab World and the international scene, and dedicates one of its segment to young viewers. Days of Cinema includes the Narrative Programme, the Documentary Programme, International Shorts, Kids, and Sunbird Shorts, which showcases short narrative and documentary films by Palestinian filmmakers or producers as well as film that refer to Palestine thematically. "In its 4th edition, Days of Cinema has grown to be one of the most important pillars of the Palestinian film scene," according to the Days of Cinema website. "Days of Cinema was founded in the firm belief that cinema and culture are important tools for a more tolerant, democratic, and equal society amidst the daily struggles we experience in Palestine. The films showing at Days of Cinema offer an opportunity to see humankind without borders, reflecting on the state of man across societal and geographic boundaries. They depict human conditions that every society grapples with. They are fuel for debate and discussion, each offering an intimate portrait of life under different circumstances, in different times and places. What unites them is their passionate cinematic gaze." For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture
