Adel Khalaf

When Egypt's climate changes , turning the country into a frozen state, a group of intelligence officers travel to Italy to get a device that can stop the frost, posing as a movie crew.

The crusades come to life in Egyptian artist Wael Shawky’s beautiful Cabaret Crusades. Inspired by the writings of Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf, Shawky’s film trilogy explores the horrors of the medieval holy wars in the Middle-East – from an Arab perspective. With a cast made up entirely of puppets, the third part, The Secrets of Karbala (2014), centres on the period between the 7th and 12th centuries, covering the crusades as well as a dispute between two Islamic sects. Beautifully made of handblown Murano glass, the puppets have amazing expressive power, making the scenes full of violence, repression and torture all the more awe-inspiring.

To watch a pornographic film in Egypt, you need four things: the videotape; a VCR; a television; and a place to watch it. Three horny Egyptian 20-somethings try to pull these elements together in a day-long 'mission-impossible' to watch what is euphemistically called "thaqafi" (cultural) -- a codeword for porn meant to keep parents, friends and colleagues out of the loop (and those in the know in).