Reflections on trauma and memory in Youssef Chahine's films.

Mostafa, Dalia Said

This article focuses on Youssef Chahine's films September 11 and Alexandria .. New York in order to engage critically with some theoretical, political, and cinematic issues in relation to collective and personal memory and trauma. The films reflect Chahine's viewpoint on the relationship between the US and the Arab world at the present time. They are among the very few in the context of Arab cinema which have addressed the September 11 attacks. The author discusses some of the cinematic motifs and techniques which Chahine uses. She argues that the importance of Chahine's two films arises from the political issues they engage with, which are rarely addressed in Egyptian cinema in general.