In the Heliopolis Flat

Mohamed Khan's 2007 Egyptian film follows Nagwa, a music teacher who comes from Minya in Upper Egypt to Cairo with her students. The real purpose of the trip is to find the first teacher who taught her music; her only lead is the address of a flat in Heliopolis. The film turns the search into a way of learning the city. The people Nagwa meets in Cairo, the wrong addresses and the waiting are the body of the narrative; what becomes visible is her own persistence rather than the person she wants to find. Khan is a director representing the realist strain of late twentieth century Egyptian cinema. Here too place is not decor but character; the old buildings of Heliopolis and the city's layers are part of the telling. Ghada Adel leads. Who it's for: those who like contemporary Egyptian cinema and quiet city-centred drama. Who it's not for: viewers expecting marked dramatic development; no large event occurs across the film.