Cairo chronicles

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to a fresh new (and sunny) week. Today’s issue is all about stories: those told in Cairo, of Cairo, and showcased in Cairo.

The 47th Cairo International Film Festival is on, and for 10 days the city turns into an open house for cinephiles, with 145 films from 64 countries screening at the Egyptian Opera House, Downtown and Zamalek cinemas, and a handful of malls. This week’s Enterprise Guide rounds up the standout films, with synopses, screening times, and venues for each.

Elsewhere today: In Ears to the Ground, we start with a story you may find a piece of yourself in: New Shoes, a short story by Cairo-raised writer Hisham Matar, in which a man living in London keeps hearing he’s been spotted back in Cairo, sipping tea at ahwas and browsing shops. It’s more of a reading than a podcast, with Matar narrating in The New Yorker: The Writer’s Voice, but it’s worth your time. Elsewhere in today’s issue, there’s plenty of football action in Europe, and we recap the weekend on the pitch.

But first, the news…