A group of young men and women have decided to establish "Our Street Cinema," an initiative that aims to organize free movie screenings in Cairo's empoverished neighborhoods, especially in al-Salam City.
One of the movies chosen for the screenings by Mona Suleiman, Mohamed Youssef and Mostafa Hussein is "Atfal al-Ganna" (The Children of Paradise), a 1990s Iranian movie.
"Salam City is out of the scope of the government's attention, but it's people have the right to have access to art. Our solution is to organize free film screenings for them in the streets of their neighborhood," Hussein said.
"In this area, there is no proper space to show movies. They established a cinema years ago, but it was closed for lack of planning. There are cinema halls at the Palace of Culture in the city, but they have not been used since they were inaugurated," Hussein added.
"We have chosen the Iranian movie, as it has never been shown in Egyptian cinemas or on TV," Hussein mentioned.
The movie tells the heartbreaking story of two street children who share a pair of shoes after one of them lost his pair. The story has touched the hearts of the people in Salam City, where many might be experiencing the same poverty, according to Hussein.
The equipment used during the screenings has been donated by the British cultural center, which supports the initiative.
Hussein pointed out that the next screenings, which take place every Friday, will be aimed at students or families.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
