Alexandria Trilogy Alexandria, Why?

Director: Youssef Chahine
Cast: Ahmed Zaki, Naglaa Fathy, Farid Shawqi
Egypt, Algeria, 127’, 1978, color
Arabic with Turkish subtitles

Winner of the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival, this acclaimed first instalment in Chahine’s groundbreaking Alexandria Trilogy takes place in 1942, as British and Arab forces fight together against German troops advancing toward Alexandria. Yehia, here representing the young Youssef Chahine, is obsessed with Hollywood musicals and dreams of studying acting in the USA; a beautiful Jewish socialite must decide between fleeing the advancing Germans with her father or staying with her Egyptian lover, who is secretly working with the Germans; a wealthy Egyptian aristocrat murders occupying troops one by one until he meets a young British soldier with whom he develops a special bond. Chahine masterfully weaves these interrelated storylines together to create a magnificent historical and autobiographical tapestry.

Silver Bear & Special Jury Prize, Berlin International Film Festival

Chronicle of the Year of Embers

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Alexandria Trilogy Alexandria, Again and Forever

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Alexandria Trilogy Alexandria, Why?

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Alexandria Trilogy An Egyptian Story

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I Copy Therefore I Am

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Suggesting alternative models for new social and economic systems, SUPERFLEX works appear before us as energy systems, beverages, sculptures, copies, hypnosis sessions, infrastructure, paintings, plant nurseries, contracts, or specifically designed public spaces.

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Ali Sami is born in Rusçuk in 1866, and moves to İstanbul. Because his family is registered in the Beylerbeyi quarter of Üsküdar, Ali Sami is also called Üsküdarlı Ali Sami. He graduates from the Mühendishane-i Berri-i Hümayun in 1866 and becomes a teacher of painting and photography at the school.

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In the works of western painters, we encounter mosques as the primary architectural elements that reflect the identity of the city of Istanbul. Often we can recognize the depicted landscape as Istanbul simply from the mosques.