Maryam Saleh

In the fading grandeur of downtown Cairo, Khalid, a 35-year-old filmmaker is struggling to make a film that captures the pulse of his city at a moment when all around him dreams as much as buildings are disintegrating. With the help of his friends who send him footage from their lives in Beirut, Baghdad and Berlin, he finds the strength to keep going through the difficulty and beauty of living IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE CITY.

Both Mahmoud and Zeinab join hands to search for the original version of the first Egyptian independent film that was made back in the 1980s, all copies of which were either destroyed or confiscated for unknown reasons by the government film agency, an entity that governed film production and distribution at the time.

A Canadian doctor finds her sympathies sorely tested while working in the conflict ravaged Palestinian territories.

Shams is a young girl who resides in the local neighborhood of Ain Shams. The life of the family turns into a tragedy when they learn their young Shams has leukemia, and they try to fulfill her only wish to visit Downtown Cairo.

Professor Ramadan is a feared and well respected teacher in a village, forced to take a job in the city teaching at a private school. He soon realizes that most of his students are infatuated with a famous singer whom he tries to ban all mention of within the school, only to fall in love with her himself.

Youssef, a student at the Faculty of Fine Arts, responds to the call of talent and love of drawing against his family's wishes.

Weaving together music, politics and storytelling, THE DREAM OF SHAHRAZAD explores recent social and political events in Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon through the metaphor of THE 1001 NIGHTS, and looks at the ways in which creativity and political articulation coincide in response to oppression. Drawing on Shahrazad, the princess who saves lives by telling stories, a youth orchestra conductor, a Cairean storytelling troupe, a troubled Lebanese actress and various others all put art to new political use.

The story of a prostitute "Mona Farkha" through a meeting with the director and the scenarist of the movie who don't know anything about her world.