A still from In the Last Days of the City, a proud requiem to Cairo which cannot be viewed there Tamer El Said’s In the Last Days of the City documents life in the Egyptian capital over 10 years, but authorities have refused him a permit to show it Ruth Michaelson, Wednesday 12 July 2017
Ask a Cairo resident to describe the most frustrating thing about living in the Egyptian capital, and they will likely tell you about the noise, the chaotic streets and the proselytising taxi drivers.
The situation in Egypt right now is horrendous’ … Khalid Abdalla Photograph: David Degner The Kite Runner actor is also an activist involved in documenting Egypt’s uprising and subsequent collapse. So why has the Cairo premiere of his new film been called off? For Khalid Abdalla, the boundary between life and art has repeatedly blurred and shifted over the past six years. The actor, best known for his roles in films such as The Kite Runner and Green Zone, has portrayed a film-maker struggling to finish a documentary in the tense political climate of pre-revolutionary Cairo, starred in a documentary about the 2011 revolution, actually documented the same uprising and its troubled aftermath, and set up a film centre in the Egyptian capital to support independent film-makers.
Khalid Abdalla 31 October 2016 My father isn't dead yet, but he almost died twice. Illness brought us to the very edge of the precipice and both times his loosening grip sent stones of harrowing sizes tumbling, but the avalanche of grief has so far remained in place, alert. Still, walking on the fault line I have come close enough to know that with the approach of death comes an intensity of stories.
Khalid Abdalla The story of the Egyptian revolution carries a heavy burden. Its many tales travel across contexts and experience, within Egypt and beyond it, influencing movements and revolutions while building dreams and threatening them. Solidarity fundamentally entails sharing an interpretation of a story. How that story is told and re-told has political and historical implications that are as much about the current moment as they are about the future. Political events are hard to follow at the best of times, and solidarity is broken when the thread of a story is lost or events within it become subject to confusingly competing narratives.
Egyptian-British actor, producer, filmmaker and political activist Khalid Abdalla (Photo: Rena Effendi) Ahram Online met with renowned Egyptian-British actor Khalid Abdalla and discussed his varied repertoire as a filmmaker, producer, co-founder of important film initiatives and also as a political activist Nourhan Tewfik , Saturday 26 Dec 2015 “It was a World War I play. We were in a classroom. All the chairs were moved to the side and there was a square made in the middle.
Egyptian-British actor, producer, filmmaker and political activist Khalid Abdalla (Photo: Rena Effendi) Ahram Online met with renowned Egyptian-British actor Khalid Abdalla and discussed his varied repertoire as a filmmaker, producer, co-founder of important film initiatives and also as a political activist Nourhan Tewfik , Saturday 26 Dec 2015 “It was a World War I play. We were in a classroom. All the chairs were moved to the side and there was a square made in the middle.
by Anthony Alessandrini Jadaliyya, 19 November 2015 [Alisa Lebow, a filmmaker and film scholar who teaches at the University of Sussex, is the Creator/Director/ Producer/Writer of Filming Revolution, an interactive data-base documentary archive about independent and documentary filmmaking in Egypt since the revolution, which was launched in October 2015.]
Anthony Alessandrini (AA): Could you talk a bit about what made you put together this project: when did you decide to set Filming Revolution in motion, how did the specific form of the project come together, and how did you go about choosing filmmakers, archivists, activists, and artists to interview?
By Soraya Morayef Open Democracy, 25 March 2014 The author reviews the only documentary released to-date of the people's uprising in Egypt until the fall of Mohamed Morsi on 3 July 2013. There is no such thing as a comprehensive narrative of the Egyptian revolution. Anyone attempting such a thing will most likely fail, as the complex evolution of a people’s uprising to where Egypt is today cannot be summarised in one story, let alone a 108-minute film.
By julietomlin March 30, 2011, Frontline Club British-Egyptian actor and producer Khalid Abdalla flew from London to Egypt soon after it became clear that the protests of 25 January were gathering momentum and was there for the Friday ‘Day of anger’ on 28 January. The Kite Runner star, whose other credits include Green Zone and In the Last Days of the City, was memorably interviewed from Tahrir Square by Channel 4 News’ Jon Snow while his father Hossam Abdalla was in the studio.
By julietomlin March 30, 2011, Frontline Club British-Egyptian actor and producer Khalid Abdalla flew from London to Egypt soon after it became clear that the protests of 25 January were gathering momentum and was there for the Friday ‘Day of anger’ on 28 January. The Kite Runner star, whose other credits include Green Zone and In the Last Days of the City, was memorably interviewed from Tahrir Square by Channel 4 News’ Jon Snow while his father Hossam Abdalla was in the studio.
