ISSUES relating to migration and exile were at the core of the theme tackled by Arab directors in several films screened at the 57th Cannes Film Festival. Algerian-French director Tony Gitlif's Exils -- which won the Cannes Best Director Award -- is about two young men's journey from France to Spain, and then to their motherland Algeria. It deals with the connection immigrants have with their motherlands, as well as with the countries to which they have migrated.

Gitlif received the award from Egyptian director Youssef Chahine, who tackled a similar issue in his film Alexandria ... New York, shown during the closing ceremony of the Certain Regard section of the festival. Whereas the part Chahine directed in September 11 -- a film involving the efforts of 11 international directors and which was screened at the 2002 Venice Film Festival -- constituted a political critique of United States' foreign policy, Alexandria ... New York is an exploration by the director of his mixed emotions of love and anger for his country of adoption. An autobiographical film covering the time he was studying film-directing in the US, Alexandria ... New York is, so to speak, a sequel to Chahine's autobiographical trilogy Iskinderiya ... Leih? (Alexandria ... Why?), Hadoota Masriya (An Egyptian Story) and Iskinderiya Kaman wa Kaman (Alexandria Again and Again).

Although it was screened during the festival, Youssry Nasrallah's Bab Al-Shams (The Gate of the Sun) -- based on a novel by Lebanese writer Elias Khoury about the history of the Palestinian diaspora -- did not participate in the official competition. The film raised much controversy. Acclaimed by many critics for its bold exposé of the Arab-Israeli conflict from 1948 to the 1990s, The Gate of the Sun, not surprisingly, came under heavy criticism by supporters of the state of Israel.