Saint Theresa and Sleeping with Strangers

In Sleeping with Strangers, Abdel Meguid turns his lens on the United States - following an Egyptian, Basim, who is drawn to the 'land of opportunity, ' only to end up in an American prison. His encounter with a fellow prisoner who preaches of the 'black Messiah, ' and his affair with a Russian woman become entangled with Basim's family history of Egyptian official secrets and a pile of stolen documents. Masterfully told, Sleeping with Strangers evokes the conflicting pull of east and west, as Basim is torn between Cairo and Boston, alternately drawn to and repelled by his vision of America.