28 November 2016 – Filipinos in Cairo became acquainted with the firebrand General Antonio Luna via two special screenings of the film Heneral Luna at the Sentro Rizal in Cairo on November 25 and 26.

Ms. Daphne Chiu, line producer of Artikulo Uno Productions, was on hand to provide insights into the film’s production and historical foundations. The film largely draws from the 1972 book The Rise and Fall of Antonio Luna by retired University of the Philippines professor Vivencio R. Jose.

Audiences during both showings left both entertained and educated about the little-known Gen. Luna, who struggled against both foreigners and fellow Filipinos as revolutionary commander during the Philippine-American War in 1899.

The film garnered both critical acclaim and commercial success in the Philippines, where it became the highest grossing historical film of all time thanks to an extended cinema run in 2015.

The screenings of Heneral Luna served as the first activity of the Sentro Rizal in Cairo since being inaugurated last September. They also marked the first showings of the film in the Middle East and Africa under the Cinema Sentro Rizal initiative of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). END