A woman dressed in a 1950s-style dress stands smiling as she fixes her hair, against the backdrop of rural Egypt. A scene that follows is a young girl dancing baladi (Egyptian belly-dancing), and a group of people socialising. These shots are part of footage reels providing a glimpse into the life of a middle-class family living in 1950s and 60s Egypt. The family home movie, shot by a physician in the Egyptian Air Force, E.H.Eassa, was released by Periscope Film – an American archival film company that shares footage spanning the history of the military, the air force, the navy, the marines and the coast guard. Giving the audience a feel of what it meant to be an Egyptian living in the country at the time, the film features clips of Eassa’s family as they visit the Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, and other spots around Cairo. The film begins with the family visiting their ancestral village in the Sharqia governorate followed by a succession of scenes depicting downtown Cairo as family members take a stroll through Talaat Harb street, which at the time was named Suleiman Pasha street –…
