On the second night of the hugely anticipated Youssef Chahine retrospective, Zawya will screen El-Ard (The Land).

Considered among Chahine’s most influential films, El-Ard stars Mahmoud El-Meligy, who delivers a stellar performance as a peasant fighting against his landowner’s greed.

The film, produced in 1969, explores the notion of individual and collective interests in a state of oppression.

Tawfik El-Decken, Nagwa Ibrahim, Salah El-Saadany and Ezzat El-Alaily star alongside El-Meligy in this screenplay adaptation of the novel by renowned Egyptian novelist Abdel-Rahman El-Sharkawi.

El-Ard was up for the Palm D’Or Award at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival.

Chahine was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1997 edition of Cannes. He passed away in 2008.

Tonight's screening will be followed by a discussion by film critic Yasser Allam and veteran filmmaker Yousri Nasrallah.

Zawya launched in March 2014 and is run by Misr International Films, the film company founded by Chahine himself.

Programme:
The Land is set to start at 6.30pm at Zawya
Odeon Cinema, 4 Abdel-Hamid Said Street, off Talaat Harb Street, Downtown Cairo.