Origin: Egypt France Switzerland | Documentary | Director: Nadia Kamel | 103 minutes

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Salata Baladi / Salade Maison / Egyptian Salad

Director: Nadia Kamel, Egypt/France/Switzerland 2007, 103 min., Arab. with En. ST

When filmmaker Nadia Kamel realizes that her 10-year-old nephew Nabeel and
her 80-year-old mother Naela live in two radically different Egypts, she
decides to actively look back on their family's history and reassess it.
Grandmother Mary is the enchanting main character, an engaged communist,
long-time journalist and the daughter of a Turkish-Ukrainian Jew and an
Italian Catholic. Salata Baladi starts out as a colourful mix,
affectionately and subjectively portraying the Kamel family, their love for
literature, languages and lively discussions about politics and society
over a bowl of pasta with friends. But as the family's historical, ethnical
and religious matters are being slowly uncovered, Mary discovers the dark
period of her family's immigration to Israel in 1946. While Nadia is trying
to convince her mother to go visit these relatives, Mary struggles with her
own political beliefs that have always prevented her from meeting them.
Mary and her generation stand for an ethnic, religious, but especially
political cosmopolitanism that their own kids can only partly comprehend.
Her personal story reflects Egypt's complex history between the Kingdom and
the British occupation, the independence and the Republic in all its
facets.
Jewish-Arab identities in postcolonial cultural discourse.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjDDLEF6xy0
https://youtu.be/f_kedeYpOJY

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View trailer