In this beautiful classic film from legendary director Youssef Chahine, Cairo's main railroad station is used to represent all of Egyptian society. We see a community comprised of luggage carriers and soft-drink vendors living in abandoned train cars. A crippled newspaper dealer, Kinawi (played by Chahine himself), falls in love with the beautiful but indifferent Hanuma (Hind Rostom), a lemonade seller who only has eyes for the handsome Abu Sri'. Swept away by his obsessive desire, Kinawi kidnaps the object of his passion, with terrible consequences. Chahine received international recognition when this masterpiece of sexuality, repression, madness and violence among society's marginalized played at the Berlin Film Festival, where it was nominated for a Golden Bear in 1958.

Marta Meszaros brings a subtle, yet effective critique of both communist Hungary and the patriarchal system that existed there in the mid 1970s. A single woman turned 40 wants a baby but has nobody to give her one. Her instincts displaced, she befriends a tearaway girl from a young offender's institution. The two women, each at a watershed in their lives, draw something from each other without being able to relate to each other properly. Austere, understated, and powerful, a classic example of Meszaros’ ability to affect the viewer at a deeply personal point.