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Al-Ahram Weekly
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Remembering iconic Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine - Screens - Arts & Culture
17 years have passed since the departure of the biggest and most important figure not only in Egyptian cinema but the history of Arab cinema. Youssef Chahine died on 27 July 2008 at the age of 82 after filled with vibrant clamor and spectacular successes Chahine's rebelling personality and his relentless efforts to break the mould of commonness and go beyond the familiar. He was born in Alexandria, on 25 January 1926. Since his early years, he refused to fulfill his father's wish to study engineering and preferred to go to America to study cinema. Upon his return, he made his directorial debut Papa Amin (1950) before reaching 24-years-old. Although he was a member of the aristocratic class, Chahine supported the poor in his films and believed in socialism and advocated for it in his films. He was the only director who was bold enough to execute an innocent man in Conflict in the Valley (1954) and he was the only Christian who directed a film that denounced the Crusades in Saladin (1963). While he was a Nasserite director, he didn't flinch from exposing the corruption of the Nasser regime in The Sparrow. He is also the only cineaste who returned after the 1967 defeat from Beirut to Cairo, while others went the other way round in a collective immigration that Egyptian cinema didn't witness before. He was invited to Paris to direct, not a film but the famous Albert Camus play Caligula, for the Comédie-Française. Chahine was the first to seek financing for his films through unconventional methods, which in its turn raised suspicion concerning the cinema he presented. He was engaged in the most violent clash with the highest Islamic religious authority (Al-Azhar) regarding The Emigrant, which was banned from cinemas by a legal verdict in 1994, as well as other brushes with censorship, including over The Sparrow, and Is This Chaos? The existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre described rebellion as the real motivation behind any creativity. However, it seems that Chahine's desire to go against the norm was so intense that he couldn't control it. The majority of the Egyptian films at the time Chahine made his first were either traditional love stories taking place in luxurious villas, low class comedies that combined a singer, a belly dancer and a well-known comedian, or plots and traps hatched in night clubs. Chahine's debut was a fantasy involving a middle class Egyptian family in which its breadwinner dreams that he died and was watching the downfall of his family without being able to do anything to save it. He temporarily tried to play it safe, so as to be present on the Egyptian cinematic map, making four traditional films, including The Lady of the Train and The Big Clown, albeit showing high artistic capabilities in these films. Since 1954, Chahine started to speak his mind, or more accurately commenced the big projects of his career. In that year he directed Conflict in the Valley starring Faten Hamama and his new discovery Omar Al-Sharif, in what can be considered the first direct and mature cinematic condemnation of the feudal system that was prevalent in the Egyptian countryside before the 1952 Revolution. This film and a subsequent one, Conflict in the Harbour (1956), revealed Chahine's early interest in class struggle within Egyptian society. This interest has reached its intellectual peak in his flagrantly propagandist film Dawn of a New Day (1965), and its emotional apex in The Land (1970). The former didn't just stop at denouncing capitalism but it heralded a new society where socialism would prevail, while the latter was an emotionally painful cry in the face of oppressive forces seeking to usurp the poor and deny their rights. According to Chahine, ordinary people weren't just the victims of class struggle, but also sufferers of poverty and illness, as in Qenawi's case, the protagonist of Cairo Train Station (1958), which was played by Chahine himself. It was this marginalised personality that Chahine extracted from thousands of passengers frequenting the train station daily. He did the same with 'Ouka, a monkey handler (played by Mohsen Mohie Eddine) and an ordinary mother Siddiqa (played by Dalida), the protagonists of The Sixth Day (1986), drawing each from millions of Egyptians who lived the Cholera epidemic in 1947. The pan-Arab dimension was also a very important feature in Chahine's cinema. He made Djamilah (1958) chronicling the Algerian people's struggle against French colonialists. In another direction, Chahine's The Sparrow (1972) partially tackled the reasons behind the 1967 defeat. It was the best cinematic expression capturing the first days of the defeat and was concluded with fantastic archival footage of the masses going to the streets demanding that President Gamal Abdel Nasser not step down. What's certain is that Chahine got close to the ruling institution as much as he rebelled against prevailing norms. From 1976, Chahine's rebellion grew, even attacking his own cinema and embarking on making films so particular that his audience dwindled gradually. Nobody remained but his die-hard fans who adored his art and comprehended his lofty cinematic language. Following his film The Return of the Prodigal Son in 1976, Chahine got carried away in transferring his autobiography to the silver screen in four films, starting with (1978) and concluding with Alexandria-New York (2004), covering a 35-year period. At the same time, he showed greater interest in religious, intellectual and political issues, such as in The Emigrant, The Destiny (1997), The Other (1999) and Is This Chaos? (2007). But we should keep in our minds that the man behind The Land, Cairo Train Station and The Choice (1970) is the same director of mediocre films such as A Lovers' Call (1960) and Silence, We're Rolling (2001), among others. Highlights of international recognition The most celebrated filmmaker of the Middle East, Chahine created films that participated in and won awards in the biggest international film festivals, including Cannes, Venice and Berlin. Chahine's film Cairo Station was the first Arab and the first African film to be submitted for consideration for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (1958). Three more of his films were submitted for Oscars consideration: Alexandria ... Why? (1979), Alexandria Again and Forever (1990) and Destiny (1997). In 1979, Chahine won a Silver Bear for Alexandria … Why? at the Berlinale, while five of his films were nominated for the Cannes Palme d'Or. In 1997, Chahine was presented with the Cannes Festival's 50th Anniversary Prize for lifetime achievement. In 2007, Chahine was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dubai International Film Festival. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
CairoScene
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
Laila Eloui to Be Honoured at Alexandria Film Festival
Eloui has appeared in nearly 100 films, working with major figures in the industry including directors Youssef Chahine and Mohamed Khan. Jul 22, 2025 The Alexandria Mediterranean Countries Film Festival will honour Egyptian actress Laila Eloui at its 41st edition, scheduled to run from October 2nd to the 6th. The recognition marks her long-standing contribution to Egyptian and Arab cinema. Eloui has appeared in nearly 100 films, working with major figures in the industry including directors Youssef Chahine and Mohamed Khan, and actors like Adel Imam and Ahmed Zaki. Her career includes significant roles in films like 'Al-Masseer' and 'Alexandria Again and Forever', as well as more than 60 television series and 20 theatre productions. The festival, which dates back to 1979, is organised by the Egyptian Association for Film Writers and Critics. It highlights cinematic work from across the Mediterranean region.
CairoScene
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
Laila Eloui to Be Honoured at Alexandria Film FestivalEloui has appear
Eloui has appeared in nearly 100 films, working with major figures in the industry including directors Youssef Chahine and Mohamed Khan. Jul 21, 2025 The Alexandria Mediterranean Countries Film Festival will honour Egyptian actress Laila Eloui at its 41st edition, scheduled to run from October 2nd to the 6th. The recognition marks her long-standing contribution to Egyptian and Arab cinema. Eloui has appeared in nearly 100 films, working with major figures in the industry including directors Youssef Chahine and Mohamed Khan, and actors like Adel Imam and Ahmed Zaki. Her career includes significant roles in films like 'Al-Masseer' and 'Alexandria Again and Forever', as well as more than 60 television series and 20 theatre productions. The festival, which dates back to 1979, is organised by the Egyptian Association for Film Writers and Critics. It highlights cinematic work from across the Mediterranean region.
News.com.au
03-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
In Cairo, the little indie cinema that could
In the heart of Cairo, a small cinema has for over a decade offered a unique space for independent film in a country whose industry is largely dominated by commercial considerations. Zawya, meaning "perspective" in Arabic, has weathered the storm of Egypt's economic upheavals, championing a more artistic approach from the historical heart of the country's golden age of cinema. Zawya was born in the post-revolutionary artistic fervour of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak. "There was this energy where people wanted to produce and create, not just in cinema, but in all the arts, you could feel it," said Zawya founder Youssef Shazli. In the time since, it has escaped a wave of closures -- some forced -- of art centres across the capital. Egypt had long been known as the Hollywood of the Arab world, but in the decades since its mid-century heyday, the domestic industry has largely been restricted to crowd-pleasing blockbusters. "It's often said that we're lucky to have a large film industry, with infrastructure already in place," said filmmaker Maged Nader. "But the truth is this industry operates solely on a commercial logic," leaving little room for independent filmmakers, he added. Yet Zawya has survived in its niche, in part due to the relative financial stability afforded to it by its parent company Misr International Films. Founded in 1972 by Egyptian cinematic giant Youssef Chahine -- Shazli's great uncle -- the company continues to produce and distribute films. - Young talent - For Shazli, Zawya is "a cinema for films that don't fit into traditional theatres". But for young cinephiles like 24-year-old actress Lujain, "it feels like home," she told AFP as she joined a winding queue into the larger of Zawya's two theatres. Since 2014, Zawya's year-round programming -- including both local and international short films, documentaries and feature films -- has secured the loyalty of a small but passionate scene. Its annual short film festival, held every spring, has become a vital space for up-and-coming directors trying to break through a system that leaves little room for experimentation. "I didn't even consider myself a filmmaker until Zawya screened my short," said Michael Samuel, 24, who works in advertising but says the cinema rekindled his artistic ambition. For many, that validation keeps them going. "Zawya has encouraged more people to produce these films because they finally have somewhere to be seen," said the cinema's manager, Mohamed Said. When Mostafa Gerbeii, a self-taught filmmaker, was looking for a set for his first film shoot, he also turned to the cinema. Without a studio or a budget, Zawya "just lent us their hall for free for a whole day", he said, saving the young director 100,000 Egyptian pounds (around $2,000) to rent a location. - The heir - The light of its marquee spilling onto downtown Cairo's Emad al-Din Street, Zawya is the 21st-century heir to a long artistic tradition that still lingers, though often hidden away in corners of the district's broad avenues. "It's a unique neighbourhood with an equally unique flavour of artistic and intellectual life," said Chihab El Khachab, a professor at the University of Oxford and author of the book "Making Film in Egypt". Starting in the late 19th century, the area was home to the city's biggest theatres and cabarets, launching the careers of the Arab world's most celebrated singers and actors. Today, its arteries flowing out of Tahrir square -- the heart of the 2011 uprising -- the neighbourhood is home to new-age coworking spaces and galleries, side by side with century-old theatres and bars. Yet even as it withstands the hegemony of mall multiplexes, Zawya cannot escape Egypt's pervasive censorship laws. Like every cinema in Egypt, each film must pass through a state censors before screening. "Over time, you learn to predict what will slide and what won't," Shazli said. But even the censors' scissors have failed to cut off the stream of ambition among burgeoning filmmakers. "Around Zawya, there's a lot of talent -- in every corner," Shazli said.
Egypt Today
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Egypt Today
Luxor African Film Festival to Celebrate the Centennial of Youssef Chahine in Landmark 15th Edition
The Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF) is gearing up for a spectacular 15th edition, set to take place in the last week of March 2026 under the powerful theme: 'Youssef Chahine… An Egyptian Tale.' This special edition honors the centennial of iconic Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine (1926–2026), whose groundbreaking work left an indelible mark on Arab and global cinema. Festival President and screenwriter Sayed Fouad revealed that this tribute will include a bilingual (Arabic-French) documentary book chronicling Chahine's cinematic journey and a captivating video art exhibition showcasing rare photographs and vintage posters. Four of his most celebrated, newly restored films—revived by Misr International Films—will take center stage in Luxor and across African countries throughout 2026. In parallel, the festival will honor key collaborators from Chahine's filmography, making this centennial celebration a continent-wide homage to his enduring legacy. Festival Director Azza Elhosseiny also announced a reimagined 'Special Focus' program spotlighting South African cinema, with four landmark films and a reissue of a pivotal book tracing the nation's cinematic evolution. This year's edition will also pay heartfelt tribute to the late Malian auteur Souleymane Cissé (1940–2025), a towering figure in African cinema and a longtime friend of LAFF. A dedicated bulletin and retrospective will honor his remarkable contributions to the art form, including his award-winning works that once graced Cannes and other international festivals. Since its inception in 2011, LAFF has been a vibrant bridge between Egypt and the rest of Africa, championing the continent's rich cinematic heritage through curated screenings, cross-border programs, and institutional collaborations. Organized by the Independent Artists Youth Foundation, with actor Mahmoud Hemida as honorary president and producer-distributor Gaby Khoury heading the high committee, the festival is backed by Egypt's Ministries of Culture, Tourism & Antiquities, Foreign Affairs, and Youth & Sports. Key partners include the National Bank of Egypt, Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority, Kemet for Peace and Knowledge, Afreximbank, the Syndicate of Cinematic Professions, and Luxor Governorate.
