Prominent Egyptian director Yousif Shaheen was immediately transferred to hospital in Egypt after he encountered a heart attack causing blood to clot in his arm, with no additional details given regarding the severity of his condition. Upon hearing the news, Egyptian renowned actress Yusra rushed to hospital leaving the studios in the middle of filming scenes from her upcoming TV drama series “Malik Rouhi” (King Over my Soul).
Shaheen had recently completed shooting the last scenes for his upcoming film “Al Ghadab” (Anger), which tackles his life from the beginning of his career and up until the September 11th attack on the United States. Events in the film begin from th 1946 when Yousif had headed to the US to begin a new life. Filming of the scenes was done between the California, New York, France, and Egypt in the exact places Yousif had been in his life’s journey.
In the film, Yusra plays the role of an American woman, Angy, who is the lover of an Egyptian film director Yahia, who is portraying Yousif. The theme of the film revolves around an Egyptian director who has lived in the United States from the beginning of his film education up to the September 11th attack. It also portrays the relationship the two have and how all of the sudden the life of the director turns into a nightmare during the attacks on the US. At this moment Yahia begins to experience feelings of anger and hate towards his American girlfriend and finds himself hating everything in America.
Yousif was scheduled to travel to Paris this week, but his sudden health failure forbids from doing so. In March 2004, the director will head off to the United States where he will take part in the San Francisco Film Festival. The board members of the festival have invited him to attend a discussion about the Middle East cinema. –Albawaba.com
