The Night of Counting the Years

A 1969 Egyptian film and the only feature directed by Shadi Abdel Salam. Also known as The Mummy (Al-Mummia), it is ranked third on the list of Top 100 Egyptian films. Produced by Roberto Rossellini, who was instrumental in encouraging Abdel Salam to make the film, it is set in 1881 Upper Egypt and based on the true story of the Abd el-Rasuls, a clan that had been secretly robbing a cache of mummies discovered at tomb DB320 near the village of Kurna, selling artifacts on the black market. When the Antiquities Service arrives, a conflict within the clan forces one member to make a crucial decision between his community's livelihood and his cultural heritage. Regarded as one of the finest Arabic films ever made, its bold camerawork and atonal soundtrack lend an eerie atmosphere to the tale of the struggle between tradition and modernization.