EL ESKANDRANY

Synopsis

A young Alexandrian refuses his father's fish trade, fails at his own, and leaves for Europe — returning ten years later to a city and a family that have moved on without him.

Adapted from the novel by Osama Anwar Okasha, who also wrote the screenplay and dialogue, El Eskandrany is Khaled Youssef’s portrait of Alexandria as a city that people leave and cannot stop returning to. Bakr rebels against working alongside his father Ali in the family’s fish wholesale business, tries to make his own way in trade, and fails. He emigrates to Europe with his friend Zaki, leaving behind his fiancée Qamar — and stays away for ten years.

What he comes back to is the film’s real subject: the version of a life that continued in his absence, and the question of whether a returning man is owed any part of it.

Produced by Ahmed Afifi. Cinematography by Sameh Selim, music by Yahia El Mougy, art direction by Ahmed Abbas. Released in Egyptian cinemas on 4 January 2024.