A dandy aristocrat loses his mind in WWII Alexandria—and you'll want to watch every second.
Season 2 • Episode 36
LatestSet in Alexandria during the 1940s, at the height of the city's cosmopolitan golden age, Zezenia follows Bishr — the son of an Egyptian father and Italian mother — as he navigates a fractured sense of identity torn between East and West. Against a backdrop of World War II, mixed nationalities, and a society on the brink of change, the series is a sweeping portrait of love, belonging, and the soul of a city.
Acting
Yehia El Fakharany's decades-long career peak as fractured Bishr.
Production
Lavish recreation of 1940s Alexandria's lost multicultural world.
Writing
Okasha's novelistic 77-episode character study, unprecedented in Arab TV.
Creator
Osama Anwar Okasha
Yehia El Fakharany
بشر عامر عبدالظاهر (بوتشي)
Hala Sedki
عايدة قبودان
Ferdoos Abdel Hamid
نعيمة مرسال (نعيمة السيد راشد)
Huda Sultan
الحاجة آمنة
Gamil Ratib
جيوفاني ديلورينزي
Abu Bakr Ezzat
محمد بدران - خال صلاح
Nabil Al Helfawi
رفاعي
Ahmad Bedir
عبدالفتاح ضرغام
Tahani Rashed
نادرة هانم
Sayed Abdel Karim
عزوز أبو شامة
Magda El Khatib
فرانشيسكا
Hamdy Ghaith
عامر عبدالظاهر
Sawsan Badr
محروسة
Mohamed Metwally
خميس
Sayed Azmy
مرشدي
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Zezenia became shorthand in Egyptian pop culture for elegant self-destruction; mention 'Bouchy' and anyone over 40 knows exactly what you mean.
Okasha based Bishr on real Alexandria families destroyed by racial reclassification under Nasser—this is disguised national history.
EG
