Screenwriters: Mohamed Abu Youssef, Abdel Hay Adib

Producer: Gabriel Talhami

A phenomenal melodrama, Hitchcockian thriller, and biting commentary on Egypt’s path to progress, Cairo Station remains one of the greatest films in Egyptian history. Qinawi (played by director Youssef Chahine), a physically challenged newspaper salesman obsesses over Hanuma, an attractive young woman who sells illegal spirits in the train station. In love with Abu Siri – a porter at the station attempting to unionize his fellow workers –  Hanuma teases Qinawi with the possibilities of love. His obsession turning to blood lust, the film dives to a thrilling conclusion. Banned in Egypt for over 20 years, this examination of the country as a whole through the microcosm of a train station shocked the Arab world with its forward-thought.