THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING
aka OMARET YAKOBEAN

Year: 2005
UK: ICA Films
Cast: Adel Imam, Nour El-Sherif, Youssra, Issad Younis,Ahmed Bedeir),Hind Sabry, Khaled El Sawy, Khaled Saleh, Ahmed Rateb, Somaya El Khashab, Bassem Samra
Director: Marwan Hamed
Country: Egypt
Language: Arabic (English subtitles)
UK: 172 mins
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong bloody violence
UK Release Date: 14 September 2007 (Limited Release)


Synopsis

Many lives...different stories...one city...one building...The Yacoubian Building

Adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name, THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING in the city of Cairo embodies every aspect of Egypt's capital, from its architecture and history, to its complex labyrinth of stories exploring love and power, sex and politics.

Crossing a spectrum of classes, characters, families and narratives, debut director Marwan Hamed's beautiful adaptation of Dr Alaa Al Aswany's novel, turns one of Cairo's oldest buildings into an intricate depiction of the city at broad-reaching levels of the social and emotional scale.

Tackling everything from Islamic fundamentalism to homosexuality and corruption, the film was a cause celebre on its release in Egypt where it proceeded to smash box office records and spark unprecedented debate.

THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING is Hamed's second feature, his debut was a short movie based on the novel "Lily" which was released to much acclaim and received several awards.