Set in 1987 against the backdrop of a hunger strike by the Egyptian film industry, Chahine himself steps in to play Yehia, the famed Egyptian director whose life is chronicled in “Alexandria, Why?” and “An Egyptian Story”. Obsessed with Amr, the handsome actor he discovered and cast as his alter-ego in parts one and two of The Alexandria Trilogy, Yehia pressures Amr to star in various film projects that change even as Yehia’s perception of the young actor begins to change. He first casts Amr as Hamlet, which the actor deems too demanding for his talents, then as the lead in a musical biopic of demigod Alexander the Great, who founded the city of Alexandria in 332 B.C.

Youssef Chahine is the premier director of Egyptian cinema—the largest national cinema in the Arab world—and this film, the conclusion of an autobiographical trilogy, was intended as his coming-out film. As the director begins production on a film, his favorite actor, and alter ego, deserts the set, and problems continue to mount. Along the way, Chahine exploits the misfortunes of his main character to satirize the process of filmmaking, especially in the Third World.