By Mike Collett-White VENICE, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Veteran Egyptian film director Youssef Chahine still feels young at 81, and hopes he has another 10 years of film making left in him. Reports that Chahine fell ill during the shooting of his latest movie "Heya Fawda" ("Chaos"), in competition at the Venice film festival, led to speculation it could be his last. A second director, Khaled Youssef, was brought in to co-helm the movie, which tells the story of Hatem, a boorish Cairo police officer who seeks to use his connections to escape punishment for a serious crime in a fable of how power corrupts. "I am young. I am only 81 years old," Chahine told a press conference in Venice. "First of all, I never look at myself in the mirror; I think it's silly to do that and tell oneself that you are getting older," he added, speaking through a translator. He reminded reporters that Portuguese film maker Manoel de Oliveira, who also has a film at the festival this year but not in the main competition, was still going strong despite being several years his senior. Oliveira is widely known as the world's oldest active film director at 98. He has two pictures planned in 2008, according to online movie database www.imdb.com, and turns 100 in December next year. "Thank God there are older people than me and they are still young, like Mr. Oliveira," Chahine said. "Yesterday we met and he squeezed my hand very hard and almost crushed my fingers. "At 81, I am not old compared to him and I hope I can keep working for another 10 years. Old age is to let oneself become old. I believe that it is possible to meet people who are 20 years old who are older than me." EXUBERANT MELODRAMA The fast pace and exuberant comedy of "Chaos" support his argument, although some critics found it naive, melodramatic and unconvincing. One said Chahine may be attempting to appeal to Egyptian film goers more than his earlier movies. The film examines the universal theme of power and corruption, but also problems specific to Egypt today. Hatem, played by Khaled Saleh, is a policeman who rounds up young suspects at protest rallies and takes out his personal frustrations and failures by beating and torturing them and keeping them imprisoned indefinitely. A vulnerable buffoon as well as villain, the character bribes and extorts local businessmen, but goes even further when the attractive Nour refuses his advances. Senior officials are willing to cover up for him in the hope the allegations go away, but the locals have other ideas. Chahine said he was "enraged and angry" about what was happening in his own country and elsewhere, and said police in many countries increasingly used disproportionate force to quell unrest and protest. Police brutality is a hot topic in Egypt today. A 13-year-old boy died in August three days after emerging from police custody with signs that he had suffered torture. He and his brother were suspected of stealing packets of tea. A government-appointed panel of forensic experts cleared Egyptian police of wrongdoing, security sources said this week.(For blogs about the Venice film festival, please see:http://blogs.reuters.com/category/events/venice-2007/)
