Film Screening: إمبراطورية ميم / Empire M at VOX Cinemas
Update (November 8): The day after I published this post, the screenings in UAE cinemas were no longer listed. I contacted VOX Cinemas Customer Service to find out why. This is the reply I got:
“As someone with your expertise and deep appreciation for cinema, we’d like to highlight that each country follows its own set of regulations and approvals from the respective media councils before a movie can be released. In this case, while Empratorayet Mem has been released and is open for bookings in other regions (KSA), we unfortunately cannot confirm its availability for release in the UAE at this time.”
Hussein Kamal’s film إمبراطورية ميم / Empire M (Embratoreyet Meem) from 1972 starring Faten Hamama will be screening at VOX Cinemas in the UAE and Saudi Arabia starting on November 6.
According to scenenow.com, “the screening is part of a wider collaboration between Rotana Media and VOX Cinemas to restore and showcase iconic works from Arab film history”.
This film is a quintessential family classic beloved by many in the Arab region, mostly seen on television. It’s great to finally have the opportunity to watch it on the big screen.
You can watch the trailer below, and you can find the screening schedule here:
VOX Cinemas (UAE): https://uae.voxcinemas.com/movies/empratorayet-mem-arabic#showtimes
VOX Cinemas (KSA): https://ksa.voxcinemas.com/movies/empratorayet-mem-arabic#showtimes
If you are not familiar with this film, I recommend you read this review from 2014 by Amany Ali Shawki published by Mada Masr.
With the Shah Rukh Khan Film Festival underway, and now this, November is turning out to be a great month of repertory screenings for me in Dubai.
إمبراطورية ميم / Empratorayet Meem / Empire M
Director: Hussein Kamal
1972, 105 min
Directed by Hussein Kamal and written by Ihsan Abdel Quddous with contributions from Naguib Mahfouz, ‘Empire M’ tells the story of Mona (Hamama), a widowed mother raising six children while working at the Ministry of Education.
The film follows her attempts to balance family responsibilities with her personal life, particularly her relationship with businessman Ahmed Raafat, played by Ahmed Mazar.
Synopsis via Scene Now.
Earlier this year, I watched another film starring Faten Hamama, The Open Door (Henry Barakat, 1963) at IFFR and in the summer I made a video essay about her titled Faten Hamama’s Kiss part of a video essay series screened at SAFAR Film Festival in London. Here’s to seeing more of Faten Hamama.