During President Nasser’s reign, Cairo was a place of quirky chaos, suspicion and mistrust, full of sharp jokes and overpriced dreams. The post office only delivers recruitment and scholarship letters. Surprisingly, Elizabeth from the capital of classical music sends a letter to Ahmed, a stubborn pianist. His family loves football. Nobody wants a pianist or a writer in the family.

Ahmed’s dream of escaping to Vienna brings no joy to his generous Austrian hosts. You can’t build a career here based solely on a picture with the president. The Arab boy practises Bach as if his life depended on it to impress his demanding teacher. Mesmerised by her first Egyptian crush, Omar Sharif, Elizabeth refuses to let Ahmed give up.

Ahmed has no choice but to survive the stormy days until his first concert, which are overshadowed by censorship, setbacks, wars, defeats, blossoming love, and the changing of four Egyptian presidents.

Discovered at Cannes in 2018, Abu Bakr Shawky leaps over the years in five fragmented stories, leaving gaps for our imagination to fill in. He mixes archival footage of political speeches, football matches, film clips and radio transmissions with musical changes to achieve detailed accuracy and a sense of humour.

Edvinas Pukšta