Bershama

Days after opening for Eid al Fitr in March 2026, 'Bershama' took more than 23 million Egyptian pounds in a single day, the best day any film had ever had at the Egyptian box office. Within a month it had passed 160 million. Not bad for a comedy set almost entirely in one classroom.

It's exam day at a village school, and the room is full of home study candidates sitting their Arabic paper for the thanaweya amma, the final school exam that decides who gets into university in Egypt. Most of them are adults: Abdel Hamid, a devout young man who refuses to cheat; Helela, the mayor's son, who has to pass whatever it takes; a belly dancer hoping for a different life, a prisoner and an elderly woman who needs the certificate for a bigger pension.

Then the invigilator collapses and everyone assumes he's dead. Most of the candidates agree to hide him at the back of the room and say nothing until the two hours are up, so they can cheat as much as they like. The snag is that none of them knows the answers, and Abdel Hamid is threatening to report them.

Hesham Maged and Mostafa Gharib, the comedy duo from the series 'Ashghal Shaqa', lead a cast that also includes Bassem Samra as the mayor, Reham Abdel Ghafour, Hatem Salah and Arefa Abdel Rasoul. Khaled Diab, who wrote 'Clash' with his brother Mohamed Diab, directed and shares the script credit with Sherine Diab and Ahmed El Zoghbi.

The title is Egyptian slang for a cheat sheet. When the film reached streaming in May, the Salafist Al Nour party accused it of disrespecting religion and the row went all the way to parliament. Its average across the four outlets collected on Movienco is 6.5 out of 10.

• Comedy