In a radio interview by Robert Siegel, on the set of The Yacoubian Building, aired on Program Stream NPR Worldwide on Sirius Satellite Radio, Middle East, Director Marwan Hamed, 27, author Alaa Al Aswany and screenwriter Wahid Hamed and talk about sex, religion, filmmaking, literature and freedom of expression in Egypt.

On its website of the Radio Station, they reviewed the importance of The Yacoubian Building film saying “… the controversial, best-selling Egyptian novel The Yacoubian Building describes a country that is corrupt, unfair and thuggish. It follows the lives of residents both rich and poor of the Yacoubian, an actual apartment building in downtown Cairo.

Now, the novel is being made into a star-studded, $3 million film - two times more than any other Egyptian film - which the producer hopes will be "an Egyptian Ocean's Eleven."

However, the significance of The Yacoubian Building transcends its record-setting budget and its pantheon of top Egyptian actors.

Yacoubian looks at sometimes-uncomfortable truths about life in contemporary Egypt. It tackles subjects considered taboo in traditional Egyptian society, such as homosexuality, and even features a corrupt imam.

Wahid Hamed one of Egypt's most celebrated screenwriter and wrote the screenplay for Yacoubian said "I think [the movie] will be like a document of the time we live in," he says, noting that the movie says in public what many citizens are thinking in private.

Underlying the novel - and the making of the film version - is a fundamental question: How undemocratic is a society that tolerates such scathing criticism? ”