The Yacoubian Building

“Everyone is a human being with a story.”

Living in a hallway or on a roof doesn't make someone smaller. Zaki sees the soul in everyone even while the city rots around them.

Taha starts out so hopeful about joining the police. Watching his dreams turn into radicalism because of his father's job is heartbreaking.

“The important thing is to be able to pay the rent.”

Busayna has to trade her dignity just to keep her family fed. It makes you realize how expensive survival really is in a place like Cairo.

Zaki is an old playboy but he is the only one who still believes in love. He treats it like a religion while everyone else treats it like a transaction.