July 27, 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!
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