Jocelyne Saab’s Egypts, 1976 – 1989: Disappearing Worlds

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The Architect of Luxor

Returning to Egypt in 1986 and curious to observe how Egyptian traditions were echoing into the present, Saab turned to the work of architect and philosopher Olivier Sednaoui, a student of the celebrated Egyptian architect Hassan Fathi whose legacy included reestablishing traditional building designs and materials including mud construction in Egypt, rather than imported architectural wisdoms. Sednaoui later went on to lead such projects as the completion of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi and an EU-supported restoration in the Egyptian Sinai; here a young man at the start of his career, he explains how he built his own mud-brick house in Luxor, bringing together the infinitely small and the infinitely vast, as per Pharaonic architecture. He speaks of the heating and cooling properties of domes. He imagines cities of the future where solutions are found in the coexistence of traditional ideas with modern conundrums, the collaboration between “East” and “West”.

The Rise of Fundamentalism

A historical document of fascinating insights, Saab’s elegant and wide-ranging journalistic approach paints a lively picture of a changing Egyptian society in the first years of Hosni Mubarak’s rule – which lasted 4 decades until he was overthrown by the Egyptian revolution in 2011. But this film sits closer to Mubarak’s predecessor’s demise – Sadat was assassinated in 1981, discontent with his capitalist and perceived euro-centric political projects still resonant. Saab observes Egyptian people looking for ways to rebuild their sense of identity, weaving together the reflections of historians, religious leaders, and journalists alongside the passionate voices of young people who have turned to Islam and practice it differently to how their parents did. Through their voices, Saab portrays the success of the Muslim Brotherhood and the increasingly rigid cultural values developing throughout the country at the end of the 1980s.

Al’Alma’, Belly Dancers

Sequined, curvaceous bodies undulate through the frame of Saab’s homage to belly dancing. In the present, it is the 1980s-star Dina who teaches a new generation of belly dancers – the alma’ – to move their hands, feet, hips. Mainly lower-class women from all corners of Egypt vie for a place to become the “queen of Cairo”. Archive images of belly dancing stars of the 40s and 50s – Samia Gamal, Tahia Carioca, Naaima Akef – remind of the long history of the dance, celebrated in film as an artform and still a playful mainstay of local weddings and circumcision parties. Nobel prize winner Naguib Mahfouz extols the virtues of this complex art, one that centres pleasure and seduction, a dance of leisure and the pleasures of the body, of desire.

Films courtesy Jocelyne Saab Association.
With an introduction by Elhum Shakerifar & Mathilde Rouxel.