Today marks the US theatrical debut of the documentary film Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love, an examination of Egypt, N'Dour's 2004 album, which highlights the tolerance central to his practice of Islam. The film, which opens in three New York area theaters this weekend, tracks the public reception of the album, from its initial rejection in this singer's home country of Senegal, where its message was at first misconstrued; to its international acclaim, including a Grammy win; and, ultimately, to its fervent embrace back home.

The New York Times's Nathan Lee describes the album as "an ambitious fusion of Senegalese idioms and Egyptian arrangements that sings the praises of Islam." Lee praises the film's showcasing of the "Senegalese superstar" and providing the audience with "happy viewing" during its ample opportunities "to groove to his crisp, soaring, polyrhythmic music." Read more at movies.nytimes.com.

The Daily News gives the film three stars. Says the paper's film critic Elizabeth Weitzman, "[D]irector Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi has given fans a gift in her performance-heavy documentary. She's clearly a fan herself, and the film makes no attempt to pretend otherwise. But N'Dour inspires such admiration wherever he goes, thanks not only to his revered musical talent but a passionate diplomacy on behalf of his nation." As inviting as it is for such die-hard fans, the film, too, is "bound to prove an enlightening portrait," Weitzman concludes, for those less familiar with the singer's rich body of work. Read the full review at nydailynews.com.

Vasarhelyi, the film's director, talks with Metro's Tina Chadha about the new film and the five years she devoted to its making. Chadha, who calls Egypt "a personal love song to the country and an effort to show another side of Islam to the world," looks at the shared bond between the filmmaker and her subject, both people motivated to solve the world's injustices rather than passively bemoan them.

For Vasarhelyi, the film grew from her frustration at the one-sided, anti-Islamic that pervaded in the US followed 9/11. "It was important for me to add new voices to the conversation," she explains. And in N'Dour, with his own "extraordinary voice" as a singer, she found the perfect means to do so. "Through his music, Youssou brings together audiences of many cultures and many faiths,” Vasarhelyi tells Chadha. “He shows us that each individual has the power to affect change.”

Read the complete article at metro.us.

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As reported in the Nonesuch Journal yesterday, the film opens at the Paris Theatre and IFC Center in Manhattan, and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) this weekend. N'Dour and Vasarhelyi will make personal appearances at each of the three New York–area theaters on opening day and the following day, Saturday, taking questions from the audience about the film. Today, they will appear following the 7 PM show at the Paris and following the 8:10 PM show at the IFC; tomorrow, they'll appear following the 2 PM show at BAM's Rose Cinemas.