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.