Palestinian director Azza El-Hassan uses the story of legendary Syrian entertainer ASMAHAN to offer a fresh take on Middle Eastern history and the Arab Spring. As times harden in the Arab world, people have begun to recall the greatest diva of all time: Asmahan, the Syrian princess who emigrated to Egypt in the twenties and became an entertainer. Today, traces of the Cairo that Asmahan once loved are difficult to find in the blanket of apathy that weighs on the city. It was in Cairo that Asmahan sang her famous song “Euphoric Nights in Vienna”(1944), in which she manufactured an Arab fantasy for the European city. Today, many Arabs go to Vienna in search of the dream whispered to them by the greatest diva. But things are not quite that simple. Asmahan is not the angel everyone imagines her to be.
Biography, Documentary
1h 11min
16+
AR
EN
DE
A Palestinian director uses the story of legendary Syrian entertainer ASMAHAN to offer a fresh take on Middle Eastern history and the Arab Spring.
Palestinian director Azza El-Hassan uses the story of legendary Syrian entertainer ASMAHAN to offer a fresh take on Middle Eastern history and the Arab Spring.
As times harden in the Arab world, people have begun to recall the greatest diva of all time: Asmahan, the Syrian princess who emigrated to Egypt in the twenties and became an entertainer. Today, traces of the Cairo that Asmahan once loved are difficult to find in the blanket of apathy that weighs on the city. It was in Cairo that Asmahan sang her famous song “Euphoric Nights in Vienna”(1944), in which she manufactured an Arab fantasy for the European city. Today, many Arabs go to Vienna in search of the dream whispered to them by the greatest diva. But things are not quite that simple. Asmahan is not the angel everyone imagines her to be.