In the vast El Arafa cemetery in Cairo, a city has arisen among the tombs and mausoleums. This “city of the dead” has a living population of one million. There are many funerals each day, while life goes on all around: a young shepherd drives his cattle through the small streets, a market woman tries to sell plastic laundry baskets, and children play among the tombstones, flying their kites. No respect for the dead, then. There is, however, an all pervasive sense of realism: in this necropolis, the living and the dead are bound together into a pact of peace. Directed by Sérgio Tréfaut, THE CITY OF THE DEAD presents us with various aspects of this strange enclave. We see the serene and beautiful sand coloured graves as well as the turmoil of a place where a predominantly poor population struggles to survive.
