Egyptian filmmaker blasts U.S. policies

An Egyptian film director whose work has attacked Islamist intolerance at home has turned his camera on the United States, where he sees political fanaticism and media bias fueling hatred of Arabs.

In his latest film, “Alexandria New York,” Youssef Chahine deals with the clash between his love for America, where he once studied, and his anger at what he views as Washington’s unswerving support for Israel at the Arabs’ expense.

“I am very angry, but not at the American people. I’m angry at the American regime,” said the 78-year-old director, who is one of the most celebrated filmmakers in Arab cinema.

“Alexandria New York” tells the story of a New York ballet dancer who discovers that his father is Egyptian.

“When he gets over the shock of knowing his father is an Arab, his rejection of his father is automatic because of the media, the unfair media, with the double standards all the time between us and Israel,” Chahine said in an interview.

Although Chahine does not have a son in New York, “Alexandria New York” is based loosely on his experiences in the United States. It is the fourth film centered on his life and is due for release in Arabic in June or July.

In a pessimistic statement on the future of U.S.-Arab ties, the father and son are unable to reconcile their differences.

Chahine says his view of future American-Arab ties is based partly on what he sees as the religiously inspired Middle East policies of President Bush. “Mr. Bush is a fanatic,” he said.

Chahine’s first autobiographic movie, “Alexandria Why?,” produced in 1978, won the Berlin Film Festival’s grand jury prize. He was also given an award for his life’s work at the 1997 Cannes film festival.

Chahine is from the Mediterranean city of Alexandria on Egypt’s northern coast. “Alexandria New York” begins by depicting his time as a student at the Pasadena Playhouse in the 1940s. They were the best days of his life, he says.

His exposure to American films, musicals and music would shape his own movies, which earned him a reputation as one of the most intelligent directors in Arab cinema. But although Chahine once saw the United States as the home of liberty, he now perceives intolerance and political fanaticism. “The United States was supposed to be cosmopolitan. It was the real melting pot, but it’s not boiling at all,” he said.

Chahine is concerned by what he sees as growing Christian conservatism in the United States and is also worried by what he and many observers view as growing religious conservatism in Egypt.

Chahine, who sees himself as part of a dying generation of Egyptian liberals, says he still struggles against conservative censorship by both state and society.

“I fight back, but it’s not a movement. Not even my students fight back. Everybody is afraid of sects,” he said.