AL-MOMIA (THE MUMMY)

Cannes Classics

Directed by :: Shadi Abdel SALAM

Country:: EGYPT

Year:: 1969

Duration:: 103.00 minutes

Synopsis

The film is based upon the true story of the discovery, in 1881, of 40 Royal Mummies.
When some archaeologists from the Antiquities Department in Cairo notice that several artefacts bearing royal names from the 21st dynasty keep appearing on the antique black market, an expedition is sent to Thebes, the capital of the Pharaonic Empire. They discovered that the Pharaoh’s tomb has been plundered for millennia, its treasures regarded as a natural heritage and a private source of income for the Horabat mountain tribe and its secret kept for generations by the chief's descendants. When the archaeologists find the tombs, the two sons of the dead tribal chieftain are faced with a moral issue. While they both refuse to continue the plunder, one of them is murdered and the other decides to side with the authorities.