Contents
Youssef Chahine
Directing Cairo Station and Alexandria… Why?, bringing personal and political questions into Egyptian cinema.
Cairo Station · The Land
- Born
- 25 January 1926
- Birthplace
- Alexandria, Egypt
- Died
- 27 July 2008
More people
Youssef Chahine
Youssef Chahine moved between popular genres, historical films and autobiographical stories across a career of nearly six decades.
Early life
Alexandrian childhood
Grew up in a multilingual family in the port city.
Performance training
Studied at the Pasadena Playhouse in California before returning to Egypt.
Career
- 1950
First feature
Directed Baba Amin.
- 1954
New screen star
Cast Omar Sharif in his film debut, The Blazing Sun.
- 1970s
Personal turn
Expanded his political filmmaking into autobiographical work.
- 1997
Cannes tribute
Received the festival's 50th-anniversary award for his body of work.
Selected work
Cairo Station
Desire and violence unfold among railway-station workers.
The Land
Peasants confront exploitation in rural Egypt.
Alexandria… Why?
A young man's film ambitions unfold during World War II.
Beyond work
Training others
Mentored filmmakers including Yousry Nasrallah.
Censorship
Faced a legal battle over The Emigrant, which was banned and later returned to screens.
Sources & photo credit
Life, career and references ↗Cannes: films and awards ↗Hong Kong International Film Festival: The Land ↗Photo: Mblegacy. CC0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
