| ALEXANDRIA... WHY? (1979)dir. Youssef ChahineThe Film, Set During World War II Tells Multiple Stories,

إسكندرية ليه | ALEXANDRIA... WHY? (1979) dir. Youssef Chahine The film, set during World War II tells multiple stories, one being the director’s own story through the character of Yehia, a young man in Egypt with directorial ambitions but the passion to be an actor, who frequently watches the same film repeatedly at his local cinema out of fear that he missed something the first time, performs Shakespeare, struggles with social and familial pressures, falls in love, and pursues his dream of studying acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. Subplots include a Jewish-Muslim couple struggling once a pregnancy comes to light, a homosexual romance between a gay English soldier and a wealthy Arab, and a wacky group of communists who plan to kidnap Winston Churchill in hopes of ending the war. (link in title)

The Night of Counting the Years ( Shadi Abdel Salam, 1969)

The Night of Counting the Years. Dir. Shadi Abdel Salam. 1969.

life made a mess of us

— Paul Guest, from “1987.”

Cairo Station (1958)