Alexandria...Why?

Alexandria... Why? is centered on the story of high school student Yehia Mourad, Chahine’s cinematic alter ego; it is the first autobiographical film in Egyptian cinema. As the strains of nationalism place Arabs against British soldiers, political factions against one another and races and cultures at odds,Yehia manages to escape through the theater and the movies. He is dreaming of Hollywood as he stages his own theatrical plays, until he’s swept up in student activism. Yehia succeeds in making his dream come true by winning a scholarship to study in the USA. No stranger to challenging conventions and taboos, Chahine features, among the many stories that intermingle, an interfaith romance between a Jewish woman and a Muslim activist and a homosexual relationship between Yehia’s wealthy uncle and a young British soldier, in the film.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.
Script: Youssef Chahine, Mohsen Zayed
Cinematography: Mohsen Nasr
Editing: Rashida Abdel Salam
Music: Fouad El-Zahry
Actors: Nagla Fathi (Sarah), Farid Shawki (The Pasha), Ezzat Al-Alayli (Morsi), Gerry Sundquist (Tommy), Mohsen Mohiedine (Yehia)
Production: Misr International Films & Algeria TV
Producers: Youssef Chahine, Raouf Abdel Hadi, Mahmoud Bakr, Mohamed El Gohari, Mohamed Hassan
Production Design: Abdel Fattah Madbouly
Format: 35mm Color
Production Country: Egypt-Algeria
Production Year: 1978
Duration: 125
Contact: Misr International Films, EgyptT. +202 2578 5361mif@starnet.com.eg www.misrinternationalfilms.com

Youssef Chahine

He was born in 1926 in Alexandria, Egypt and died on July 27, 2008 in Cairo. At the age of 21 he left Egypt and went to Los Angeles to study Cinema. Ιn 1948 he returned to Egypt and started filming his own films. He was an internationally acclaimed producer, actor, scriptwriter and director, having done more than 40 feature films and documentaries. In 1997 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cannes IFF.

Filmography

(Selected)
1950 Baba Amin / Papa Amin
1951 Ibn al-Nil / Nile Boy
1954 Sira' Fi al-Wadi / Struggle in the Valley
1958 Bab al-Hadid / Cairo Station
1958 Djamila Bouhired / Jamila the Algerian
1965 Biyaa El Khawatem / The Ring Salesman
1969 Al-Ard / The Land
1973 El Asfur / The Sparrow
1978 Iskanderiya... lih? / Alexandria...Why?
1982 Hadduta Misriyah / An Egyptian Tale
1986 Al-Yawm al-Sadis / The Sixth Day
1994 Al-Mohagir / The Emigrant
1997 Al-Massir / The Destiny
2007 Heya Fawda? / Is this Chaos?