“Alexandria… Why?”

Layali el Cinema is back with a screening of Youssef Chahine’s seminal film Alexandria… Why?. Join us on Saturday December 6 for an afternoon screening followed by a discussion on the first in a quartet of semi-autobiographical reflexive films that simultaneously trace and imagine the director’s childhood, manhood and artistic journey amid the changing socio-political climate in Egypt.

Set in the vibrant, cosmopolitan swirl of 1940s Alexandria, Alexandria… Why? follows Yehia, a movie-struck Egyptian teenager who escapes the turmoil of World War II and the contradictions of colonial life through Hollywood fantasies and classroom Shakespeare. As he chases dreams of filmmaking in America, Yehia is drawn into the realities shaping his city—student activism, class conflict, and the intimate frictions between colonizer and colonized. Blending autobiography, political history, and dreamlike invention, Youssef Chahine crafts a richly layered portrait of a society searching for itself. Through intersecting subplots—from cross-cultural romances to the quiet struggles of family life—the film reveals identity not as a fixed truth but as a mosaic of competing voices, desires, and historical pressures at a transformative moment in Egypt’s modern story.

Directed by Youssef Chahine
Starring Naglaa Fathi, Mahmoud el-Meliguy, Farid Shawqi