Cinematic Narratives of Cairo’s Urban–Rural Interactions Across Political Ruptures: From the Monarchy to the Republic

Abstract

This research explores how Egyptian films produced across the transition from monarchy to republic represent changing urban-rural relationships in Cairo. Drawing on the field of cinematic urbanism, the study examines films as cultural texts that both reflect and shape urban realities. The analysis situates selected films within the historical context of Egypt before and after the 1952 revolution and employs theoretical perspectives from Henri Lefebvre, Pierre Bourdieu, and Andreas Huyssen to interpret representations of space, identity, class, and migration. The selected case studies include Al Azima (1939), Al Naddaha (The Caller) (1975), Khareg Wa Lam Ya’oud (Missing Person) (1984), Hona Al-Qahira (Here is Cairo) (1985), and The Yacoubian Building (2006). The findings reveal a significant shift in cinematic portrayals of Cairo: while pre-1952 films depicted the city as a cosmopolitan centre clearly separated from the countryside, later films increasingly represented rural migration, social mobility, urban fragmentation, and contested identities. The study argues that cinema provides a valuable lens through which to understand Cairo as a layered urban palimpsest shaped by political upheavals, migration flows, and changing social relations. It concludes that cinematic narratives offer important insights into the ways urban identities are continuously renegotiated through interactions between rural and urban populations.