Film about Egyptian superstar a hit everywhere but Egypt
In Europe, Iranian director Shirin Neshat’s "Looking for Oum Kulthum" is seen as a landmark artistic collaboration across the Middle East, but Egyptian critics are unimpressed with its historical inaccuracies.
CAIRO — Iranian director Shirin Neshat’s “Looking for Oum Kulthum," a movie that looks at the past and present of women's lives in the Middle East, has received a warm welcome from international and regional critics ever since its debut — but not in Egypt.
The film was shown to European audiences in Germany and Austria earlier this month, but the Beirut-based MC Distributors, which holds the screening rights in Egypt, told Al-Monitor that they are uncertain whether the movie will ever find its way to Egyptian theaters. The company is concerned that the film, which has been fiercely attacked by some Egyptian critics for inaccuracies and other faults, would flop in the motherland of the Egyptian singer.
