Adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name, The Yacoubian Building in the city of Cairo embodies every aspect of Egypt's capital, from its architecture and history, to its complex labyrinth of stories exploring love and power, sex and politics. Crossing a spectrum of classes, characters, families and narratives, debut director Marwan

Hamed's beautiful adaptation of Dr Alaa Al Aswany's novel, turns one of Cairo's oldest buildings into an intricate depiction of the city at broad-reaching levels of the social and emotional scale. Tackling everything from Islamic fundamentalism to homosexuality and corruption, 'The Yacoubian Building' gives us a lively, sometimes harsh and often funny look at modern Egyptian society.