August 2023 / AL MOMIA and THE ELOQUENT PEASANT

“AL MOMIA, which is commonly and rightfully acknowledged as one of the greatest Egyptian films ever made, is based on a true story: in 1881, precious objects from the Tanite dynasty started turning up for sale, and it was discovered that the Horabat tribe had been secretly raiding the tombs of the Pharaohs in Thebes. A rich theme, and an astonishing piece of cinema. The picture was extremely difficult to see from the 70s onward. I managed screen a 16mm print which, like all the prints I’ve seen since, had gone magenta. Yet I still found it an entrancing and oddly moving experience, as did many others. I remember that Michael Powell was a great admirer. AL MOMIA has an extremely unusual tone – stately, poetic, with a powerful grasp of time and the sadness it carries. The carefully measured pace, the almost ceremonial movement of the camera, the desolate settings, the classical Arabic spoken on the soundtrack, the unsettling score by the great Italian composer Mario Nascimbene – they all work in perfect harmony and contribute to the feeling of fateful inevitability. Past and present, desecration and veneration, the urge to conquer death and the acceptance that we, and all we know, will turn to dust… a seemingly massive theme that the director, Shadi Abdel Salam, somehow manages to address, even embody with his images. Are we obliged to plunder our heritage and everything our ancestors have held sacred in order to sustain ourselves for the present and the future? What exactly is our debt to the past? The picture has a sense of history like no other, and it’s not at all surprising that Roberto Rossellini agreed to lend his name to the project after reading the script. And in the end, the film is strangely, even hauntingly consoling – the eternal burial, the final understanding of who and what we are…” –Martin Scorsese

AL MOMIA was digitally restored with the support the Egyptian Ministry of Culture using the original 35mm camera and sound negatives preserved at the Egyptian Film Center in Giza.

Restored in 2009 by Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, and the Egyptian Film Center. Restoration funded by Armani, Cartier, Qatar Airways, Qatar Museum Authority, and the Egyptian Ministry of Culture.

Cecilia Cenciarelli Interview

Yasmine El Rashidi Interview

AL MOMIA image gallery

THE ELOQUENT PEASANT is a mystical combination of a folk tale and a poem, resulting in a stunning visual journey that could have only been made by the great Egyptian director Shadi Abdel Salam. Based on one of the major literary texts that survived from the Middle Kingdom, the classical period of Egyptian literature, the events are set between 2160 and 2025 BC and center on a peasant who is wrongly accused of theft by the nobles of the area. The peasant impresses his accusers with his use of language and thus starts a dialogue with the king. As they exchange ideas, Abdel Salam uses landscape, and especially light, to further the themes at hand, namely the meaning and power of justice.

THE ELOQUENT PEASANT has been digitally restored using the original 35mm camera and sound negatives preserved at the Egyptian Film Center in Giza. Special thanks to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

Restored in 2010 by Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, and the Egyptian Film Center. Restoration funded by Armani, Cartier, Qatar Airways and Qatar Museum Authority.

AL MOMIA (1969) & THE ELOQUENT PEASANT (1970)