Egyptian filmmakers in the limelight in the foreign press
Egyptian filmmakers are getting rave reviews in the foreign press this morning: Boy from Heaven, the new film from Egyptian-Swedish director Tarik Saleh, is earning praise in the international press for its “bold” depiction of corruption in Egypt, following its screening at the Cannes Film Festival (The Guardian | Indiewire | Variety). Meanwhile, 2021’s critically-acclaimed social satire Feathers picked up some of the biggest awards at the Critics’ Awards for Arab Films, Variety reports.
Egypt’s new administrative capital gets nods from several media outlets, with Namibian state-run news agency New Era touring the USD 45 bn city and Xinhua running a photo essay on the central business district being built by Chinese companies. Meanwhile, the National reports that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi sought to defend his government’s spending record during a speech on Saturday, characterizing the bns of USD spent on infrastructure and new cities as a necessity due to the inaction of previous governments.
Also getting attention:
- There’s more ink on the City of the Dead tombs being “sacrificed” for a new highway. (DW)
- Archaeologists uncovered a 4k-year-old tomb, believed to belong to a man who handled pharaonic secret documents. (Smithsonian)
- Egypt’s new national dialogue comes under criticism. (Haaretz)
- An Israeli orchestra played in Cairo for the first time in 40 years last week during the Israeli Embassy in Egypt’s celebrations of Independence Day. (Jerusalem Post | i24)