• Rating:
• Genre: Drama
• Movie Type: Political Drama
• Director: Radwan el-Kashef
• Main Cast: Sherihan, Abla Kamel, Hamdi Ahmed, Mohamed Nagati, Fayza Amasaib
• Release Year: 1998
• Country: EG
• Run Time: 111 minutes

Plot

Radwan el-Kashef, a former assistant to Youssef Chahine, wrote and directed this Egyptian drama that begins with a man approaching an abandoned fort in a dusty region of southern Egypt. He's greeted by an elderly woman who tells the tale of the deserted village: A convoy of masked bikers arrived one day, promising lives of luxury, and the men in the community left. Young Ahmed stayed for a sexual relationship with his cousin Salma (Sherihan), and the unmarried couple had a child. Frustrated by their failures in the outside world, the villagers returned to find their traditional values out of touch with the new way of life in the community -- a symbolic parallel with mass Egyptian emigration during the '70s. The film's original title translates as "The Sweat of the Palm Trees." Shown in competition at the 1998 Locarno Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Sherihan
• Abla Kamel
• Hamdi Ahmed
• Mohamed Nagati
• Fayza Amasaib

Abdallah Mahmoud

Credit

Marianne Khoury - Producer; Rachida Abdel-Salam - Editor; Yasser Abdel-Rahman - Composer (Music Score); Onsi Abou-Saif - Art Director; Radwan el-Kashef - Director; Radwan el-Kashef - Screenwriter; Nabil el-Shazlo - Executive Producer; Tarek el-Telmessani - Cinematographer; Magdy Kamel - Sound/Sound Designer; Raafat Samir - Sound/Sound Designer