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HOMEMADE STORIES

By Nidal AL DIBS

Documentary - Completed 2022

Some spaces include sign, signifier... and signified.
They grieve, are killed by sadness and longing... like an abandoned movie theatre.
Some cities... are like an abandoned movie theatre.

- Year of production
- 2022
- Genres
- Documentary
- Countries
- EGYPT
- Languages
- ARABIC
- Budget
- 0 - 0.3 M$
- Duration
- 71 mn
- Director(s)
- Nidal AL DIBS
- Writer(s)
- Nidal AL DIBS
- Producer(s)
- Mostafa YOUSSEF (Seen Films), Hala LOTFY (Hassala Productions)
- Synopsis
- Abandoned movie theatre: sound and image buried in dust. A waft of light spills over broken
  seats of wood and steel in front of a disintegrated screen; as though still waiting for the film
  to begin. Hidden on their armrests are engraved initials of a first lover. Curtains that were
  once colored decorate the ceiling, rotten and collapsed. Cracked drawers. Broken lights.
  A quarter century ago, Wahbi Cinema, in the Helmeyya neighborhood of Sayyeda Zeinab in
  Cairo, was closed down. The falafel shops closed, too, and the ice cream and candy kiosks.
  The cassette tape shops closed, and the clothes and perfume shops. Nothing remains near
  the abandoned hall but a stubborn cafe that hasn't yet shut down, and whose patrons
  remain, silent, in front of the cold tea... awaiting the coming feature. Nothing remains but
  tired tables and chairs, yellow backgammon dice, and bitter tea.
  As enthusiasts raided Wahbi Cinema, they broke the steel door locked with steel chains and
  saw the size of the destruction with their own eyes. Cairo - Wahbi Cinema - became the
  project of the youth: the restoration of the dream, and the spaces of freedom and creativity.
  Will they succeed?
  Coming Attraction: "Wahbi Cinema"
- Beginning of shooting
- Jan 01, 2013