Youssra

Meditations on corruption, fundamentalism, prostitution, homosexuality, and drugs in central Cairo. (imdb)

The last film in Youssef Chahine's autobiographical Alexandria Trilogy stars Chahine himself as his cinematic alter ego, Yehia Mourad, completing his merging of fiction with real life and drama with psychodrama. Opening with Chahine's triumph at the Berlin Film Festival, where he took home the Silver Bear for Alexandria...Why? (the first film in the trilogy--this is layered stuff), the film explores Yehia's obsession with his young star, Amir, while participating in the general strike of 1987.

A love story involving the usual bristling over arranged marriages competes with the escalating tension of the Gulf War in the debut film from Khaled Youssef.

Yehia, an Egyptian director from Alexandria goes to New York where he is reunited with Ginger, a women he dated forty years ago. (imdb)

The biblical tale of Joseph is told from an Egyptian perspective in this interesting character study. In this film, Joseph is called Ram. Ram, tired of his family's backward superstitious life, and tired of being picked on by his brothers, wants to go to Egypt to study agriculture. His brothers travel with him across Sinai, but then suddenly sell him to Ozir, an Egyptian who works for a Theban military leader, Amihar. (imdb)

Fatima returns from America after earning her doctorate, she meets Galal who works as a tourist agent. When she returns home, she finds Galal in her bedroom and warns her from marrying Osama her fiancé, he tells her that he is a demon who is in love with her. Fatima refuses Galal's request and orders him to stay away from her as she is the only person who can see him. (imdb)

The Hunger portrays a village, that suffers under the reign of a greedy local tyrant and his thugs. He taxes the villagers and makes mean affairs with the rich merchants. The people long for the situation in former times, when the just and wise Fadl Gebaly ruled the village. Then Farag, an extremely strong wagoner, kills the tyrant in a fight, and by law this makes him the new ruler. Farag sympathizes with his fellow-villagers, mainly thanks to the advices of his (half)brother Gaber.

A family man frustrated by the bureaucracies of the Egyptian public system as well as difficulties of life finds himself inadvertently accused of terrorism and decides to maintain this role holding down hostages in one of Egypt's most congested public service buildings. As some sympathise and join his cause, an antagonistic interior minister aims to defuse the situation. (imdb)