The Yacoubian Building (2006)
Director: Marwan Hamed
Set in 1990 at about the time of the first Gulf War, the film is a portrayal of modern Egyptian society in downtown Cairo, with the titular apartment building (which actually exists) serving as both a metaphor for contemporary Egypt and a unifying location in which most of the primary characters either live or work. Among them are Zaki Pasha el Dessouki (Adel Emam), a wealthy and elderly foreign-educated engineer who spends most of his time pursuing women, and Taha el Shazli (Mohamed Imam), the son of the building doorman, who excels in school but finds out that his success is limited by social class.
