On Sunday, November 24, 2019, at 10:00 a.m., Cinema Art Bethesda will present the Egyptian film, Yomeddine. The film is 97 minutes long and in Arabic with English subtitles. It was released in 2018 and was the winner of 8 international awards including Best Film at the Cannes Film Festival.

Synopsis

Yomeddine begins in a leper colony in the northern Egypt of present day, which Beshay (Gamal) has called home for nearly his entire life. He can remember being dropped off there by his father, as a young boy with a fabric bag over his face. But over time, his leprosy healed and he grew up, falling in love and getting married. Beshay rummages through an area called Garbage Mountain, collecting videotapes, scrap metal, and other items to sell, and he has a group of friends with whom he shares laughs and stories at the end of the day. Whatever life had been for him before his arrival in the leper colony is a distant memory.

But when his wife passes away and a relative of hers unexpectedly attends the funeral, Beshay begins to wonder whether he has family of his own, perhaps still living in the city of Qena, where he spent his childhood. Determined to connect with any remaining relatives, Beshay packs up all his belongings and guides his beloved donkey Harby south, along the Nile, unaware that a young orphan boy he’s befriended, Obama (Abdelhafiz), has stowed along. Together, they begin a journey that will put them in contact with Egyptians from all walks of life: Some attempt to swindle them, some befriend them, and most either ignore or fear them—an onslaught of mistrust and suspicion that drives the pair to their breaking point.

(Text copied from AV Club Website.)

Trailer

Links

• Yommedine — Official Distributor Site
• Yomeddine (2018) — IMDB
• New York Times Yomeddine Review : A Leprosy Survivor’s Journey Under the Desert Sun
• AV Club Movie Review of Yomeddine
• ‘Yomeddine’ Review: A Leper Goes Looking For His Family in Egypt, and the Results Are Heartwarming — Cannes 2018

Theater doors open at 9:30 a.m., films start promptly at 10:00 a.m. Tickets can be purchased in advance online* or at the door for $15. Come early for bagels and coffee, stay after the film for a discussion.

*After selecting the link to purchase tickets online, select “10:00” to purchase your tickets.