Join two legends of Egyptian cinema in conversation. Filmmaker Marwan Hamed – whose works are celebrated in IFFR’s 2026 retrospective – sits down with renowned director Yousry Nasrallah for an in-depth talk. The pair will discuss Hamed’s major biopic El Sett (IFFR 2026) as well as highlights from their distinguished careers.
Hamed has repeatedly set box office records in Egypt across his 25 years of filmmaking. His directorial debut The Yacoubian Building (2006) established him as a voice in Egyptian mainstream cinema and was followed by genre-bending works including mystery thrillers The Blue Elephant (2014) and The Blue Elephant 2 (2019), dark satire The Originals (2017) and historical epic Kira & El Gin (2022). IFFR welcomes Hamed for the European premiere of El Sett, about legendary singer Umm Kulthum.
Nasrallah is an acclaimed writer-director whose films have screened at Cannes, Venice and the Berlinale. His debut feature Summer Thefts (1988) screened at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, and his subsequent works include The Mercedes (1993), The Gate of Sun (2004), Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story (2009) and Brooks, Meadows and Lovely Faces (2016). In 2024, Nasrallah received the Golden Pyramid for lifetime achievement at Cairo International Film Festival.
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