The American University in Cairo (AUC) will host a conference on post-2011 Egyptian cinema from 24 to 27 April.

The events will take place at downtown's Falaki Theatre, the Oriental Hall at AUC's downtown campus, and the Malak Gabr Arts Theatre at AUC's New Cairo campus. 

'Post-2011 Cinema in Egypt: Challenges and Opportunities' seeks to explore issues pertaining to Egyptian cinema, including industry, education and film criticism.

It is dedicated to late Egyptian director Tawfik Saleh, who passed away last year, and will kick off with an opening ceremony in Falaki, where organisers will pay tribute to Saleh and screen of one of his most highly acclaimed works, Al-Makhdou'oun (The Dupes, 1972). 

The Dupes is based on a 1962 novella by iconic Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani, which follows three Palestinian refugees bound by nothing but their desolation and a desperate need to escape their dire conditions. They struggle to travel to Kuwait to earn a decent living, but their journey across the borders proves more fateful than they had imagined. 

The three days that follow the opening will witness lectures and panel discussions by some of Egypt's most prominent figures in the world of film, who will dissect a variety of topics, from studying film in Egypt, to the notion of independent cinema and the elusive balance required in film criticism. 

Programme: 

Thursday, 24 April - Falaki Theatre
113 Qasr El-Ainy St. (on AUC campus), Downtown, Cairo

5pm: Opening ceremony
7.30: Screening of 'The Dupes'

Friday, 25 April - Oriental Hall
AUC, Downtown Campus, Cairo

4pm - Film institutions, colleges and universities (panel discussion with Ali Abo Shadi, Mona Sabban and Mohamed El-Kaliouby)
7.30pm - Issues of theory and pedagogy in the study of cinema (panel discussion with Ali Badrakhan, Said El-Shimi, Tamer El-Said and Malek Khoury)

Saturday, 26 April - Oriental Hall
AUC, Downtown Campus, Cairo

11am - Egyptian film industry: Between fact and fiction (panel discussion with Mohamed El-Adl, Gabi Khoury, Mohamed Hefzy and Karim El-Sobky)
4pm - Independent cinema: The notion and challenges (panel discussion with Mohamed Khan, Amal Ramsis and Hala Galal)
7.30 - Reading Egyptian cinema: Between mass media and film studies (panel discussion with Waleed Seif, Essam Zakaria, Safaa El-Laithy and Mohamed El-Rouby)

Sunday, 27 April - Malak Gabr Arts Theatre
AUC New Cairo, Fifth Settlement, Cairo

5pm - Screening of a selection of films by young Egyptian filmmakers
6.30pm - Screening of a selection of first films by veteran Egyptian filmmakers