Alexandria… Why?

An 18-year-old named Yehia (Mohsen Mohey ElDein) wants one thing: to leave Alexandria for America and study filmmaking. The Second World War closes in around him with poverty, death and suffering, and his family's middle-class limits keep the dream out of reach. Youssef Chahine, working from his own memories of the city, lets Yehia's Hollywood fantasies run through the film alongside the war itself.