“Gateway to the Arab Mediterranean” film series
Throughout the month of July, the Embajadores Cinema in Madrid will be
hosting a tour of five countries in the southern Mediterranean basin
through five films. Casa Árabe is contributing by taking part in the
colloquiums which will be held at the end of each screening. On
Thursday, July 28, “Hamam: The Turkish Bath” will be shown.
June 23, 2022
MADRID
In addition, there will be a discussion at the end of each session with a guest proposed by Casa Árabe, who will contribute knowledge towards understanding the film and its context.
The screening schedule is as follows:
Thursday, June 30, 7:30 p.m. Caramel + colloquium with Laila Hotait
Plot summary: Five women in Beirut regularly cross paths at a beauty parlour, a colorful microcosm where several generations meet up, chat and confide in each other. Layale is a married man’s teacher. She is still hoping he will leave his wife. Nisrine is a Muslim and soon to be married. However, she is no longer a virgin and worries about how her fiancé will react. Rima lives in torment because of her attraction to women, especially another customer who often comes in to get her hair done. Jamale is obsessed with her age and looks. Rose has made huge sacrifices to take care of her older sister. At the salon, men, sex and motherhood lie at the heart of intimate, liberated conversations.
Tickets
Thursday, July 7, 7:30 p.m. A Summer in La Goulette + colloquium with Nuria Medina
Plot summary: The year is 1967. In La Goulette, a small Tunisian port city, various ethnic groups live side by side in perfect harmony. Youssei, a Muslim, Jojo, a Tunisian Jew, and Giuseppe, a Sicilian Catholic, are as inseparable as their three 16-year-old daughters. In a sort of teenage conspiracy, the three girls decide to lose their virginity on August 15, the day of the Virgin Mary. Unfortunately they set their sights on boys of different religions, which means violating a taboo. All of this takes place on the eve of the Six Day War, a confrontation that will forever pit Jews and Muslims against each other. Tickets
Thursday, July 14, 7:30 p.m. Mimosas + colloquium with Marco Magoa
Plot summary: A dying old sheikh is traveling to Sijilmasa with a caravan. His last wish is to be buried alongside his family, but he dies while climbing the steep peaks of the Moroccan Atlas. Fearful of the mountain, the travelers refuse to carry the body any further. Ahmed and Said, two hustlers traveling with the caravan, claim to know the way to Sijilmasa and offer to take his body there. The sheikh’s wife doesn’t really trust them. In a remote, parallel world, Shakib is chosen to travel to the mountains on a mission to help the improvising caravan travelers reach their destination. Shakib is also plagued by doubts; this is his first mission ever.
Tickets
Thursday, July 21, 7:30 p.m. The Nile Hilton Incident + colloquium with Karim Hauser
Plot summary: Noureddine is a corrupt detective with a bright future on the police force. His main goal is not exactly to do good, but rather to get rich. He is sent to the Nile Hilton Hotel, where the body of a beautiful woman has just been discovered. Her identity, her connections to Cairo’s elites and other more personal incidents will eventually lead Noureddine to make momentous decisions and reveal more about himself.
Tickets
Thursday, July 28, 7:30 p.m. Hamam: The Turkish Bath + colloquium with Alfonso Ruiz Felipe
Plot summary: An Italian man inherits an old Turkish bath (a hamam), located in Istanbul. The owner was an aunt of his who had emigrated to Turkey many years before. The man goes to Istanbul with the idea of finishing all of the necessary paperwork and selling the property as soon as possible. Once there, he stays with his aunt’s former employees, a married couple with their son and daughter.
Tickets
The screenings will be held each Thursday from June 30 through July 28 at 7:30 p.m. Before each showing, those attending will be served tea and an appetizer.
Further information