The 9 best Arab films

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Life

Chitchat on the Nile (Thartharah fawq al-Nil) aka Adrift on the Nile
Hussein Kamal, 1971

arab-chitchat

Based on a novel by Naguib Mahfouz, this film's theme is decadence. It is set on an illicit barge on the Nile where disenchanted government employees meet to get drunk and smoke hashish. Made soon after President Nasser's death, the film is critical of the old "socialist" bureaucracy, which had become extremely corrupt. It has the foresight and courage to mark the end of an era, with eyes keenly locked on a not-very-promising new one. One could consider the film overmoralising in that it conflates sexual freedom with corruption, but it has a great subversive power and is still banned in many Arab countries.

Omar al-Qattan is a film-maker, and chair of the Shubbak Festival of Contemporary Arab Culture