Director Khaled Youssef took on the establishment with his films before Hosni Mubarak's police state was brought down and now believes the arts can challenge the Islamists ruling Egypt after the revolution.
"Art will contribute greatly, just as it did in overthrowing Mubarak's regime," said Youssef, who has joined the opposition campaign against a constitution drafted by an Islamist assembly that is on the verge of becoming the basis for Egypt's laws.
The constitution, fast-tracked to a referendum by President Mohamed Mursi, has exposed the deep rifts between Egypt's Islamists and a rival camp of leftists, liberals, Christians and more moderate Muslims, at odds about how to shape the new nation.
The basic law won 57 percent of the vote in the first round and is now expected to pass through a second round on Saturday. The opposition camp says the document's failure to win a ringing endorsement shows just how divisive it is.
"No constitution is forced on half of a nation oppressively and forcefully," said Youssef, 48, a leftist member of the opposition Popular Current party.
Islamists, who have won every vote since Mubarak was ousted in February 2011, although by shrinking margins, say the constitution must be passed to complete the transition to democracy and Egypt's laws and codes should be based on Islamic principles to reflect the wishes of a Muslim-majority nation.
For liberal-minded Muslims like Youssef, whose camp has struggled to organise against the disciplined ranks of Islamists, that vision means sidelining the rights of Christians, who make up a tenth of Egypt's 83 million people, women and others who see Egypt as a diverse nation and a cultural leader in the Arab world.
"This constitution is heading to the dustbin of history," said the director whose films sought to highlight the nation's slide into poverty under Mubarak and have annoyed Islamists with plots that tackle taboo issues such as sex.
Short link: