Synopsis

Marina of the Zabbaleen focuses on the struggle of a marginalized Egyptian people to support and sustain a culture of family and belief. The zabbaleen (Cairo’s Christian garbage collectors) have carved out a niche for themselves in a world where they are a distinct and oppressed minority--but, as the film shows, a world without religious liberty is a world where efforts at cultural preservation and economic innovation are always radically compromised. To make the film, director Engi Wassef, herself a Coptic Christian of Egyptian origin, gained unprecedented entry to the remote, cliff-side world of the zabbaleen; centering her documentary on a young girl who aspires against all odds to become a doctor, she deftly explores the ways and means of Cairo’s hidden garbage-collecting culture.

Banned in Egypt, Marina of the Zabbaleen premiered in April 2007 at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film is being hailed as a “gorgeous" and “painterly" account of the troubled daily life of an obscure but revealing Middle Eastern people.