Foreign Films on DVD

CONTROL ROOM (DVD MOVIE)

Directed by Youssef Chahines longtime assistant, The Closed Doors touches on several taboos in contemporary Egyptian society, examining their social and political implications.
Set during the Gulf War, it tells the story of Mohamad, a highly impressionable young man who embraces fundamentalist ideas as a way of dealing with the confusion of adolescence and sexual awakening.
This powerful first feature by one of Egypt s most promising young directors tackles complex themes like oppression, jealousy, virtue, the love ideal and violence in an uncompromising way.
In Arabic with English Subtitles.

Meet Asfour (Farid Al Atrache), a poor singer/actor who stumbles upon a magic lamp and its wish-granting genie (Samia Gamal). When he uses his new-found power to woo his gold-digging girlfriend away from her rich suitor, Asfour discovers that his genie has a few wishes of her own. Sure to delight and entertain, this classic film stars two of Egypt's cinematic legends in an innovative and endearing blend of comedy, fantasy and musical genres. DVD EXTRAS include English and French subtitles, rare original trailer and filmographies.

The second of Youssef Chahine's autobiographical Alexandria Trilogy takes place largely in the mind of Chahine's cinematic alter ego, Yehia Mourad (Nour El Cherif), or, to be more accurate, his torso. Rushed into emergency open-heart surgery after an on-set heart attack, Yehia is put through a fantasy trial in a courtroom situated in his rib cage (a rather theatrical-looking contraption of white sheets draped over wooden ribs) as he flashes back on his life. Chahine embraces the absurdity of the silly device with fanciful fun (his inner child rebels against the stodgy grownup by crawling through his veins and undoing the surgery) but it's the flashbacks that carry the film's power. Think of it as Chahine's All That Jazz, only less flashy and more thoughtful. The young director struggles within the industry, sacrificing his vision and his politics in commercial compromises, sacrificing his family for his art, still dreaming of Hollywood while toiling in the low-budget environs of Egypt.

Fans of Chahine will recognize startling re-creations of two of his most famous films, Cairo Station and The Sparrow, but you don't need to know his work to feel the strain of his conflicts. Inspired by his real-life bypass surgery and the self reassessment it triggered, Chahine is more critical than you might expect; he forgives himself his sins, naturally, but never quite lets himself off the hook. Followed by Alexandria Again and Forever, which stars Chahine himself as Yehia. --Sean Axmaker

Set in the Egypt during and after World War II, Youssef Chahine's autobiographical drama of his youth in Cairo is a bright, bustling mosaic of a country embroiled in conflict and struggling with its identity. Centered on the story of high school student Yehia Mourad (Mohsen Mohiedine), Chahine's cinematic alter ego, it's national history through a personal perspective and the first film autobiography ever in Egyptian cinema. As the strains of nationalism set Arabs against British soldiers, political factions against one another, and races and cultures at odds, Yehia escapes through theater and the movies, dreaming of Hollywood as he stages his own plays and theatrical reviews until he's swept up in student activism. No stranger to challenging conventions and taboos, Chahine features 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 among his many stories. In fact, he packs the film so full that the colors threaten to bleed together, but Chahine masterfully keeps the film coherent and clear while driving it forward at a racing pace. The action at times abruptly jumps from one thread to another, as if matching Yehia's torn loyalties between art and political action, but the tonal shifts only add another layer of richness to the passion Chahine has lavished on this film. It won the Special Jury Prize at Berlin in 1979 (Chahine's first major festival prize), and was followed by two other autobiographical films, An Egyptian Story and Alexandria Again and Forever, which became known as the Alexandria Trilogy. --Sean Axmaker

The Art Of Flight is a guerrilla documentary that was shot illegally in Egypt on camcorders and a laptop. The film serves as a back story to the 2006 massacre of Sudanese refugees in Cairo. The filmmaker was nearly arrested three times during the course of shooting. This feature length film tells the story of three people, a refugee from southern Sudan, a human rights activist from northern Sudan and an American journalist in self-imposed exile, all living in Cairo. For very different reasons, the trio has found themselves struggling to survive in Egypt, a U.S. financed dictatorship which has reluctantly become their home.

The Art Of Flight features artwork of Sudanese painters living in exile. In addition to paintings from Sudanese artists and torture victims, the film also features an original soundtrack by Al-Khafiyeen, a musical ensemble of refugees who played together for a single night to score the film. The film delves deep into questions about the nature of charity, the consequences of American empire and the price of silence.

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Available on ITunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, Amazon.com (CD), CustomFlix.com (CD)

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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. As Yehia fantasizes about the films they would make together (one of them looks like a loony take on Jesus Christ Superstar), he elevates Amir from a kind of adopted son to cinematic messiah. But while caught up in the strike, Yehia becomes enchanted by a former actress turned dedicated revolutionary, and he decides to cast her in his next feature.

While this is a serious portrait of art, politics, and aesthetic inspiration, it's also a deliriously playful film full of fantasies played out like Hollywood movies. One of the loveliest moments is an old-fashioned song and dance in which the two men celebrate their Silver Bear in a snowy German street like a scene out of Singing in the Rain, while his grand daydream of an ancient Egyptian historical epic takes an unexpected turn into Keystone Cop slapstick. The mix of whimsy and wizened reflection is infectious in Chahine's exploration of the muses and visions that drive his art. --Sean Axmaker

In "Adrift on the Nile" we meet a group of hedonistic middle-aged friends who gather each night on a luxurious houseboat for dancing, love-making and smoking hashish. When a young news reporter visits the houseboat to write a story on the group, she is outraged to learn the tragic depths of their social alienation. Based on the novel by the Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz, this 1971 production offers a revealing look at the Egyptian elite on the eve of the 1967 War. By this time, Nasser had ushered in an age of enormous social change, leaving the sons and daughters of the old bourgeoisie high and dry. Directed by Hussein Kamal, "Adrift on the Nile" features the atmospheric cinematography of Mostapha Emam and a delightful musical number in color. DVD EXTRAS include English and French subtitles, rare original trailer and filmographies.