Yacoubian Building to be screened in Room 3-133 (MIT main Campus)

The film documents the unstable social and political life in Egypt during the late 60s and early 70s of the last century. The film revolves around a group of university students whose lives are turned upside down because of their talks about the political un-stability the country was going through at the time. While some of the students managed to recover, others have been doomed and fought for their lives.  Based on the novel by Naguib Mahfouz. 1975 ? 143 Min

Shown as part of:  TRANSITIONS - A FILM SERIES ON MODERN CAIRO

Cairo is transforming. Its traditionally recognizable city structure of
buildings, pedestrian areas, streets, public spaces and other spaces of
gathering are shifting in their character, societal and economic values.
Cairo?s downtown is loosing its role as a center of modern Egyptian heritage.
There has been a trend of gated communities built around Cairo in the form of
satellite, or even parasite cities dependent on their connectivity to Cairo yet
distant enough from its congestion, pollution and urban decay.
However there has
also been a recent trend of urban development projects within the dense fabric
of Cairo in the form of malls, hotels, and other spaces of private interest
that fill the gaps within Cairo districts such as downtown. And finally there
is an on going trend of major institutions moving out of central districts such
as downtown. The Egyptian Museum and the American University in Cairo are two
major institutions moving out of downtown creating two major gaps in the center
of Cairo. These institutions have supplied central Cairo with a daily flow of
foreigners, wealthy Egyptians and mixture of consumers of public space who will
soon have to head to the periphery to visit the museum or the university,
denying downtown of its last hope of a cosmopolitan feel. These trends are
undeniably processes of globalization and Cairo?s brand of urban growth.
Transitions is a film series exhibiting and narrating moments of transition in
Cairo?s modern history from the past century leading up to the present. The
film series attempts to place Cairo?s present in the context of social,
cultural and economic shifts in the last forty years. The series consists of
three films: Adrift on the Nile, Al Karnak, and Yacoubian Building to be
screened in Room 3-133 (MIT main Campus) at 5:30 pm on April 12, 19 and 26.