In Search of Oil and Sand

At a glance

In Search of Oil and Sand, is a 2012 Egyptian movie, directed by Philippe Dib and Wael Omar. with a runtime of 58 minutes.

Overview

In Search of Oil and Sand is a documentary unraveling one of Egyptian cinema's most bizarre stories: a lavish 1952 Technicolor film produced by members of the Egyptian royal family, depicting a fictional coup d'état — shot just weeks before a real coup overthrew the very monarchy that made it. Fearing the completed film would be weaponized as propaganda, the director destroyed it. Decades later, Mahmoud Sabit — himself a relative of the late Egyptian king — discovered the original 8mm reels and began piecing the story back together. The documentary reconstructs the lost film's narrative and the extraordinary political circumstances of its making, revealing an uncanny mirror that predicted both the king's fate and six decades of Egypt-West relations.

Tags