The Yacoubian Building

The Yacoubian Building (Arabic: عمارة يعقوبيان, transliterated: ʿImārat Yaʿqūbīān or Omaret Yakobean) is a 2006 Egyptian film based on the novel of the same title by author Alaa Al Aswany. It has been reported to be the highest-budgeted film in the history of Egyptian cinema. Like the novel ostensibly set in 1990 at about the time of the first Gulf War, the film is a scathing portrayal of modern Egyptian society since the coup d'état of 1952. The setting is downtown Cairo, with the titular apartment building (which actually exists) serving as both a metaphor for contemporary Egypt and a unifying location in which most of the primary characters either live or work and in which much of the action takes place. The actual namesake Yacoubian building, constructed in the Art