Rags and Tatters

Sunday 11/09 at St. Anthony Main Theatre 3:00pm | get tickets >>>

Synopsis:
Rags and Tatters is an antidote to the over-exuberant treatment in many films of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution; this film paints a different picture on an altogether different canvas. The unspeaking protagonist, a prison inmate who is one of many that were mysteriously set free in the lead-up to Mubarak’s downfall, returns to Cairo. However, this is not the Cairo of Tahrir Square, but that of the outcasts, the rubbish recyclers, and the cemetery dwellers; an underclass of Copts and Sufis whose lives are hardly improved by the new political climate. Rags and Tatters makes a vivid statement of political anarchy, a statement at once stylized and spare, and hardly forgettable.

2013
87 minutes
Narrative feature
Directed by: Ahmad Abdalla
Language: Arabic
Country: Egypt
Website | Trailer

“Rags & Tatters” will likely become a touchstone of post-revolutionary Egyptian cinema, though it may take time before critical attention gives the film its due. Ahmad Abdalla’s follow-up to “Microphone” is a nihilistic look at the poorest strata of Egyptian society in the throes of the 2011 Revolution, offering a sobering counterpoint to the inevitable air of triumphalism that first held sway following Hosni Mubarak’s fall.” (link)

Festivals and Awards:
-Toronto International Film Festival: official selection
-London Film Festival: nominated for Best Film
-Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival: won the Golden Antigone
-Munich Film Festival: nominated for Best International Film

Filmmaker bio (modified bio from filmmaker’s website):
Ahmad Abdalla is a filmmaker from Cairo and the director of Rags & Tatters, Microphone, and Heliopolis. He holds a degree in music education and had worked as a film editor from 2003, before turning to directing. Abdalla was born and lives in Cairo, Egypt.