In Search of Oil and Sand Screens at Flemish Institute in Cairo

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After Participating in Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts

In Search of Oil and Sand Screens at Flemish Institute in Cairo


The documentary In Search of Oil and Sand screened in Cinema Club at Flemish Institute in Cairo on Sunday June 9th, 2013. Held at the institute, Cinema Club screens Egyptian and Dutch films.

The film tracks the historian Mahmoud Sabit who inherited a palace that dates back to the royal family, as he unveils the story behind 'Oil and Sand', an 8 mm film shot by his parents and members of the royal court only a few weeks before the royal Egyptian family was overthrown in a coup d'état in 1952. Sabit assembles the last surviving copy of the film, reconstructing the story behind it, members of the royal family who appeared there, and the political circumstances surrounding the film.

Produced by Middle West Films, In Search of Oil and Sand is co-directed by Wael Omar andPhilip L Dib, who have won the Best Arab Director Award at the Documentary Competition within the 6th Abu Dhabi Film Festival in October, 2012.

Earlier this month the In Search of Oil and Sand participated in the Long Documentary FilmsSection at Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts. Just a few days before that, the film was part of Festival Cinéma Arabe in Amsterdam.

In March, the film has been part of the Cinem Africa Film Festival in Sweden, the Twin Cities Arab Festival in the US state of Minnesota, and International Festival of Mediterranean Film Tetouan in Morocco. In April, the film also participated in the Arabian Film Days Festival in Norway.