Archive for July, 2008

Youssef Chahine, you will be missed

With so much sadness, we say goodbye to one of the most celebrated and most controversial Arab personalities.  

 

Egyptian film-maker Youssef Chahine, died on today aged 82 after several weeks in a coma. A funeral ceremony will be held in Cairo on Monday. He will buried in the family crypt in Alexandria where he was born.

 

For me personally, I feel it is a great loss, for the loss is compounded by the fact that we not only lost a great artist, but a genius who spent his life trying, through his movies, to  recapture and defend the spirit of multicultural tolerance against the forces he saw undermining it — fundamentalism, dictatorship and imperialism.

 

Chahine was born into a Christian Egyptian family in Alexandria,  on January 25, 1926.  He began his education at a frères’ school and continued his studies at the Victoria College. After one year at Alexandria University, he moved to the United States to study acting at the Pasadena Playhouse.

 

His movies were always the subject of controversy, either for their frank portrayal of sexuality or his bold treatment of Islamic fundamentalism..

 

In his movie “Alexandria, Why?” he raised eyebrows by telling the story of two taboo love affairs — one homosexual between an Egyptian man and a British solider, the other between a Muslim man and a Jewish woman.

 

One of the main controversies was in his later work was the move the Emigrant.

 

In 1992,  he started writing The Emigrant (1994), a story inspired by the Biblica (Qura’anic) character prophet Joseph, son of Jacob. This had long been a dream-project and he finally got to shoot it in 1994. This film created a controversy in Egypt between the enlightened wing and the fundamentalists who opposed the depiction of religious characters in films.

Movie Highlights

·   Baba Amin (Papa Amin)- 1950 بابا أمين
·   El mohareg el kebyr (The Big Clown) - المهرج الكبير
·   Enta habyby (You’re My Love) - إنت حبيبى
·   Ibn al-Nil (Nile Boy) - 1951 إبن النيل
·   Sira` Fi al-Wadi (The Blazing Sun, Mortal Revenge, Struggle in the Valley)- 1954 صراع فى الوادى
·   Sira` fi el-Minaa (Dark Waters, Struggle in the Port)- 1956 صراع فى الميناء
·   Salwa al fatah al saghyra allaty tokalem el abkar (Salwa the little girl who talks to cows) - سلوى الفتاة الصغيرة التى تكلم الأبقار
·   Bab al-Hadid (Cairo Station or Cairo Main Station)- 1958 باب الحديد
·   Djamila Buhraid- 1958 جميلة بوحريد
·   Al Nasser Salah Ad-Din (The Victorious Saladin) - 1963 الناصر صلاح الدين
·   Fagr youm gedyd (Dawn of a New Day) - 1964 فجر يوم جديد
·   ‘Biyaa El Khawatem’” (The Ring Salesman) produced in 1965 (based on the musical of 1964) بياع الخواتم
·   Al-Ard (The Land)- 1969 الأرض
·   El Asfur (The Bird) - العصفور
·   Al-Ekhtyiar (the Choice) - الإختيار
·   Awdet el ebn el dal (Return of The Prodigal Son) - 1976 عودة الإبن الضال
·   Iskandariyah… lih? (Alexandria… Why?)- 1978 إسكندرية… ليه؟
·   Hadduta Misriyah (An Egyptian Tale)- 1982 حدوتة مصرية
·   Wadaan Bonabart (Adieu Bonaparte) - 1985 وداعا بونابرت
·   al-Yawm al-Sadis (The Sixth Day) - 1986 اليوم السادس
·   Iskandariyah Kaman wa Kaman (Alexandria Again and Again)- 1990 إسكندرية كمان وكمان
·   El kahera menawara be 2ahlalaha - القاهرة منورة بأهلها
·   Al-Mohagir (The Emigrant)- 1994المهاجر
·   Al-Massir (The Destiny) - 1997 المصير
·   Al-Akhar (The Other) الآخر
·   Sokoot Hansawwar (Silence, We’re Rolling) سكوت ح نصور
·   Iskandariyah-New York (Alexandria-New York) إسكندرية-نيويورك
·   Heya Fawda (This Is Chaos) - 2007 هي فوضى (premiere at the Venice Film Festival)

On a last note, I always drew parallels between him and Almodovar, another film maker, whom i not only consider an artist, but a one in a life time genius!

Hush Woman!

I was invited to a meeting yesterday. I was supposed to tell them about my project. I got there only to find out that the meeting was this kind of meeting…Meeting!

Oh horror! I was a unique figure among all these men!

When my turn came to speak, Tayseer gave me the microphone. The moderator, a man who is sitting at that far corner, yelled “Tayseer! We don’t have time, pass the microphone to a more important person!” …

I was horrified! This man did not even know who I was, did not know what I wanted to say… he had never seen me in his life!When he realized that the microphone was with me and he could do nothing about it, he said “My sister, we don’t have time, BE brief!…” As if women only go to these meetings to blabber… 

Had he been less disagreeably misogynist, I should have listenedsweetly, and stopped at thirty seconds! I had been sitting for two hours, listening to these boring men, blabbering, spending half their time just going through the required social pleasantries. 

Oh boy… the moment I got my hands on the microphone, I decided that I was sick and tired of these men’s bullshit! And therefore decided to tell them ALL what they need to know about the project … not my 30 second note that I had spent the night before preparing!

Tayseer was waiting patiently, as if I was a naughty kid eating chocolate with dirty hands. Not knowing whether he should snatch the microphone or just wait till I finish…  

The moment I finished, he took it from me, and moved quickly as if he was holding on to a diamond and was afraid it will be taken away from him, he then simply passed it to a more important person… who started with the required social pleasantries! 

I don’t know if anyone listened and frankly it does not matter one bit. I felt good; I managed to amuse myself, saying what I wanted to say…I refused to be intimidated by all these men, and I left with my head held high… After 2 hours there, I became certain that what I was brining to that table was much more interesting and much more effective than some of these men could ever dream of achieving.
  
    

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