American superstar Robert De Niro, who is head of the Tribeca film festival in New York, has personally invited Egyptian actress Yusra to be a member of the judging committee. Yusra will be part of a committee that consists of some of the most famous names in Hollywood like Al Pacino and Michael Moore.
According to the Egyptian based daily, Akhbar El Youm, over 200 films from around the world, including some Arab countries, will compete in the festival, for one of the 11 prizes that amount to 10 million US dollars.
Tribeca includes two festivals with several special events, all lasting 10 days and spread across Lower Manhattan. The main festival offers more than 200 films, as well as panel discussions and filmmaker appearances.
Egyptian director Yousif Shahin decided to take advantage of the fact that Yusra is in the US and will use the opportunity to set May as the date for all the cast of the film to travel to the US in order to shoot the final scenes of the film "Al Ghadab" (Anger), which Yusra stars in.
In the film, Yusra plays the role of an American woman, Angy, who is the lover of an Egyptian film director Yahia. 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. The movie will be shot between France and the US with scenes from Paris, New York, and California.
Yusra was on the verge of pulling out of the new film "Al Ghadab", when the managing producer of Shahin's company refused to accept the wage she requested for her role. Yusra had requested a total of 400 thousand Egyptian pounds for her role in the film due to the fact that she has become a prominent actor and is in strong demand.
Yusra denied circulating rumors of ending her acting career. The actress expressed her anger at one of the tabloids for spreading lies about her career, which she feels she is at a turning point with all the recent success she has achieved.
Close friends to the actress tried to convince her of filing a lawsuit against the paper that wrote about her abandoning her acting. Yusra refused to put herself in such dilemmas with lawsuits and courts and decided the best way for her to get back at the paper is by continuing in her upcoming film. –Albawaba.com
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
