El Madina

EL Madina Arabic , La Ville is a 1999 Egyptian French drama film directed by Yousry Nasrallah produced by Humber Balsa, Gabriel Khoury and Mariann Khoury. Written by Nasser AbdelRahmane, Claire Denis and Yousry Nasrallah.

In Albawaba Entertainment web page, an article named ElMadina Two Movies in One, Egyptian Frame of French Plot states that the French Cultural Center premiered elMadina, by Yousri Nasrallah in 1999. It wasnt his most recent work, but it was still new to Beirut. Nasrallah is quite possibly Egypts mostrespected independent filmmaker. His work is dedicated to capturing Egyptian society. He has been praised for the critical yet compassionate eye his camera casts upon the average Egyptian. ElMadina had two separate films, the Egyptian framing story and the central plot set in France. Then funding difficulties left him with only enough money for a twohour production, so he rewrote his screenplay, effectively squeezing two films into one. The film took place in Egypt and France.In the center of ElMadina lives Ali, a young man who wants to act but is unable to find proper work. The only escape for his creative instincts, besides nightly conversations with a poster of Robert De Niros Raging Bull, is occasional bottomoftheline stage melodramas. Ali makes money as a butchers accountant in his neighborhoods souq, where his father is a vegetable vendor. This quarter, Rod alFaraj, is emblematic of a number of inner city neighborhoods in Cairo, which have been erased, and isolated their residents to desert suburbs by an Egyptian government, wanting to restore its historic monuments and attract tourists. Throughout the film, theres a point at which Alis souq, slotted for tourist gentrification, is shut by the Egyptian internal security. He finally decides to escape Egypt and pursue acting in France. Two years later we do find him acting, not on stage but in the boxing ring. Unable to find legal work, he has fallen in with a fellow countryman who pays him to throw fights in crooked boxing matches. Ali is again stripped of his livelihood. After his business is forcibly absorbed by French gangsters, Alis partner betrays him and flees to Egypt, leaving him penniless and without an

Source: Wikipedia