Carnegie 10 International Film Series: The Yacoubian Building

In honor of the great diversity of films from around the world and in homage to the indispensable Cinema 10 series of Potsdam, the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures is pleased to announce their international film series, Carnegie 10.

The third movie is: The Yacoubian Building . Like the novel ostensibly set in 1990 at about the time of the first Gulf War, the film is a scathing portrayal of modern Egyptian society since the coup d'état of 1952. The setting is downtown Cairo, with the titular apartment building (which actually exists) serving as both a metaphor for contemporary Egypt and a unifying location in which most of the primary characters either live or work and in which much of the action takes place.

The actual namesake Yacoubian building, constructed in the Art Deco style, still stands in downtown Cairo at the address given in the novel: 34 Talaat Harb Street (referred to by its old name, Suleiman Basha Street, by both native Cairenes and the novel's characters). As in the novel, the film's version of the building is "in the high classical European style, the balconies decorated with Greek faces carved in stone..."

After premiering at the Berlin Film Festival in 2006, the film opened in Egypt in June. The Yacoubian Building was Egypt's official submission to the 79th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

The fourth movie is: The Departures (April 1)
The fifth movie is: Nowhere in Africa (April 15)