How Long Is “La dame du Caire”?

In 1990, Moumen Smihi briefly re-located to Cairo in order to work in the shadow of one of the world’s largest commercial film industries. The film that resulted from his Cairo sojuourn is a complex, painterly critique of the Egyptian musical and cinema star system. At the same time, the film shows the divergent states of possibility or despair faced by men and women within a changing Egyptian society. Smihi’s film plays out over thirty years and the events of the Nasserite years and the Palestine / Israel conflict become integral to the narrative. By blending newsreel footage with his own lush cinematography, Smihi creates a complex portrait of contemporary Egyptian society in the post-war years.