Skip to main content
19B film image

19B

This event has passed

Canadian Premiere

In Cairo, a lonesome, impoverished elderly property guard whose name no one seems to remember (played by the distinguished Sayed Ragab) spends his days enjoying old-fashioned Egyptian hits on the radio, caring for stray cats and dogs, and watching over the same run-down villa he has been tending to for the past forty years, even though its affluent owners have vacated long ago. His peaceful, orderly little world is turned upside down when an opportunistic parking attendant newly released from prison, Nasr (Ahmed Khaled Saleh, in turns brutal and vulnerable) bullies his way into occupying the property– drawing our nameless protagonist’s fears and sorrows to the surface. With no recourse to seek help from the police, the old guard and his feisty daughter Yara (Nahed El Sebaï) take matters into their own hands. Anchored to the villa’s decaying splendor with a compellingly classical play-like story structure, this sixth feature from acclaimed writer-director Ahmad Abdalla (Décor) provides a keen reflection on class issues, fear, and isolation in modern Egypt.

 

Best Arab Film, Cinematography, International Critics’ Prize, Cairo Film Festival 2022

 

Community Partner

Director
Cast

Sayed Ragab, Ahmed Khaled Saleh and Nahed El Sebai, Fadwa Abed, Magdy Atwan, Maher Khamis

Credits
Country of Origin

Egypt

Year

2022

Series

Panorama

Language

In Arabic with English subtitles

18+
95 min
Award Winners Drama

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Executive Producer

Yara Goubran

Screenwriter

Ahmad Abdalla

Cinematography

Mustafa El Kashef

Editor

Sara Abdallah

Original Music

Youssef Sadek

Director

Ahmad Abdalla headshot

Ahmad Abdalla

Ahmad Abdalla is a critically acclaimed and award-winning Egyptian filmmaker. He directed his first feature film, Heliopolis in 2009, followed by the award-winning film, Microphone, which was selected at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) as one of the best 100 Arabic films in history, and toured several film festivals around the world, reaping more than 20 international awards. His film EXT/Night won the Best Film Award at the Malmo Arab Film Festival (MAFF), the Jury Award at the Luxor International Film Festival, alongside four other awards at the Egyptian National Film Festival. Abdalla was also selected as a jury member in a number of prestigious film festivals including the Carthage Film Festival in 2012, BFI London Film Festival in 2014, and Dubai International Film Festival in 2017.

Filmography: Heliopolis (2009); Microphone (2010); Rags and Tatters (2013); Décor (2014); Leil Khargi (2018)

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Frankenstein

Dir. Guillermo del Toro
149 min

Frankenstein and Guillermo del Toro might have been made for each other. The movie does not disappoint, a ripping yarn of grand adventure, spectacle, hubris, passion and XXL body parts, a tale of the fantastic that rings the imagination. Screening in 35mm.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Ballad of a Small Player

Dir. Edward Berger
105 min

Colin Farrell stars in this noir film about a gambler running out of luck in Macau, from the director of Conclave and All Quiet on the Western Front. Tilda Swinton, Fala Chen and Deannie Yip costar.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989

Dir. Göran Hugo Olsson
240 min

Drawing on 30 years of television archives, Göran Hugo Olsson relates the early history of the state of Israel, as reported by Swedish filmmakers, politicians and journalists. "An astonishing, invaluable document." William Mullally, The National

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Woman in the Dunes

Dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara
147 min

Teshigahara's collaboration with novelist Kōbō Abe's is vividly strange, erotic and unsettling allegory about an amateur entymologist who is himself ensnared in a trap he only dimly understands. Screening in 35mm.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Checkpoint Zoo

Dir. Joshua Zeman
107 min

The amazing true story of the rescue of thousands of animals trapped on the frontline at an Ecopark when Russia invades Ukraine in 2022.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Predators

Dir. David Osit
96 min

"Punk'd for pedophiles." That's what Jimmy Kimmel called Chris Hansen's true crime/reality TV show, To Catch a Predator (2004-07). Two decades on, David Osit examines why the show made such an impact, for good or ill, and sits down with Hansen himself.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre