Dreams of the City

Dreams of the City or Ahlam al-Madina (Arabic: أحلام المدينة, lit. 'Dreams of the City') is a Syrian feature drama film by director Mohamed Malas. It is a coming-of-age story of a boy forced to flee his native Quneitra to Damascus in the turbulent 1950s.^[1]

Dreams of the City (Ahlam al-Madina) أحلام المدينة
Directed by	Mohamed Malas
Written by	Mohamed Malas Samir Zikra
Produced by	General Organization for Cinema
Starring	Rafiq Sbei'i Hicham Khchefati Yasmine Khlat Bassel Abyad Ayman Zeidan
Cinematography	Ordijan Anjin
Edited by	Haitham Kuwwatli
Distributed by	General Organization for Cinema
Release date	1984 (1984)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	Syria
Language	Arabic

Plot

The story is an autobiography of Dib, the main character in the film. Dib was brought up by a brutal father-in-law and a mother who was forced into a new marriage. This is partly an autobiography of Malas himself. It is set against the backdrop of the major political events of the 1950s in Syria and Egypt: the end of the dictatorship in Syria, Gamal Abdel Nasser's ascent to power and the nationalisation of the Suez Canal, and the short-lived The United Arab Republic between Syria and Egypt in 1958.^[1][2]

Awards

• Carthage Film Festival- Tanit d'Or, 1985.
• Berlin International Film Festival - Interfilm Award - Honorable Mention, 1985.
• Valencia Festival of Mediterranean Cinema - Golden Palm, 1985.