SATURDAYLetters to Father Jacob Director: Klaus HäröStarring: Kaarina Hazard, ValJukka Keinonen and Heikki NousiainenSurprised at being pardoned 12 years into a life sentence, hard-bitten killer Leila takes the prison warden s suggestion and winds up at the ramshackle parsonage of Father Jacob. The elderly man needs an assistant to pursue his main joy in life: answering the letters of those who write asking for his help. Although Leila regards the pastor s correspondence as pointless, it ultimately plays a role in her own redemption and self-forgiveness.Showing at: Good News Cinema, 12 pm.
HomeDirector: Yann Arthus-BertrandOn the verge of retiring as Commissioner of Police, Prakash Rathod, gets a telephone call from a man who informs him that he has placed several bombs all over Mumbai, and unless and until he arranges the release of four terrorists, with Al-Qaeda and Lashkar links. This man then warns Prakash that if his demands are not carried out, the bombs will explode, and one of them has been placed right opposite the Commissioner s Colaba office. Showing at: Artistic Creativity Center, 9 pm.
SUNDAYThe Soloist Director: Joe WrightStarring: Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr and Catherine KeenerIn 2005, the only thing hurting Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez more than his face from a recent bike accident was his pressing need for story ideas. That is when he discovers Nathaniel Ayers, a mentally ill, homeless street musician who possesses extraordinary talent, even through his half-broken instruments. Inspired by his story, Lopez writes an acclaimed series of articles about Ayers and attempts to do more to help both him and the rest of the underclass of LA have a better life.Showing at: Good News, 9 pm.
AmreekaDirected by: Cherien DabisStarring: Nisreen Faour, Alia Shawkat and Hiam AbbassDivorced, demoralized, and struggling with her weight, Palestinian bank employee Muna leaves the occupied West Bank with her teenaged son, Fadi, to find a new home with her sister in Chicago. The discovery that she has exchanged one set of checkpoints for another doesn t prevent Muna – an archetypical maternal survivor straight out of Italian neorealism – from buckling down to the business of survival in a culture whose traditional mistrust of dark-skinned foreigners is exacerbated by 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq.Showing at: Cairo Opera House’s Artistic Creativity Center, 6:30 pm.
Dawn of the WorldDirected by: Abbas FahdelStarring: Karim Saleh, Hafsia Herzi and Hiam AbbassThe film begins with a pair of children, Zahra (Hafsia Herzi) and Mastour (Waleed Aboul Magd), living in a small, isolated community forever suffering as a consequence of distant wars being waged by their country. The story follows them into the beginning of adulthood, as the young man becomes a soldier and the young woman shortly thereafter becomes his widow.Showing at: Cairo Opera House’s Small Theater, 8 pm
