Best of Fest Encore Screening
A clash between people representing different social strata electrifies the sixth feature from Egyptian helmer-writer Ahmad Abdalla, a progenitor of the new wave of independent Arab cinema in the early 2000s. Like Abdalla’s other films, 19B deals with the changes taking place in contemporary Egypt and his characters’ struggle to find their place. The story unfolds in an affluent Cairo neighborhood once filled with big homes and shady gardens, where an abandoned villa becomes derelict even as the building’s elderly caretaker clings to his makeshift life there. Like the building he believes he is guarding, the nameless old man (Sayed Ragab, poignant) has seen better days. At the same time, on the street, the impoverished children of the new Egypt attempt to make their living in not altogether legal ways. Ruthless ex-con Nasr (Ahmed Khaled Saleh) is spying on the old man, envying his solitude and his space. Winner, Best Arab Film, Best Cinematography and the International Critics’ Prize, Cairo Film Festival. –Alissa Simon
Director Biography
Born in Cairo in 1979, Ahmad Abdalla began studying music before turning to filmmaking. He is the director of the feature films Heliopolis (2009), Microphone (2010), Rags & Tatters (2013), Decor (2014), which was screened at the 2015 MSPIFF, Leil Khargi (2018), and 19B (2022), his most recent film.
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