Youssef Chahine

Youssef Chahine (25 January 1926 – 27 July 2008) was an Egyptian film director, active in Egyptian cinema from 1950 until his death. ¹ He directed twelve films on the Cairo International Film Festival's Top 100 Egyptian films list, launched the career of Omar Sharif, and won the Cannes 50th Anniversary Award for lifetime achievement. ¹

He was born in Alexandria to a Melkite Greek Catholic family: his father was an attorney originally from Zahle, Lebanon, and a supporter of the Wafd Party, and his mother, Claire Bastorous, of Greek descent, worked as a tailor. ¹ The Bibliotheca Alexandrina obituary likewise describes him as born to a Christian family of Syrian, Lebanese, Greek and Italian roots. ² At home the family spoke five languages, as was common in cosmopolitan Alexandria. ¹

The English article records that although Chahine was raised Catholic, he was not a believer in organized religion, and that if asked his religion he would state, "Egyptian". ¹ His funeral took place in Cairo's Greek Catholic cathedral on 28 July 2008, and he was buried with his family in Alexandria. ² Because the sources attest his family's faith and his upbringing, and record his own refusal of an organised-religion label, this museum records his faith as unknown rather than as Christian: family background is not a personal attestation. ^{1 2}

Fascinated by the performing arts from an early age, he began his education at the Collège Saint Marc and attended Alexandria's elite Victoria College. ¹ In 1946 he persuaded his parents to let him study acting in California, at the Pasadena Playhouse. ¹

With the help of cinematographer Alvise Orfanelli he directed his first feature, Baba Amin (Daddy Amin), in 1950, and with Son of the Nile (1951) he was first invited to Cannes. ¹ The Blazing Sun (1954) introduced Omar Sharif to the screen. ¹ In Cairo Station (Bab al-Hadid, 1958) Chahine himself played Kinawi, the newspaper seller obsessed with Hanouma, played by Hind Rostom. ¹

His Saladin (1963), scripted in part by Naguib Mahfouz, drew an acknowledged parallel between Saladin and President Gamal Abdel Nasser, a parallel Chahine said reflected his own sympathy with pan-Arabism. ¹ The Land (1969) is noted for its image of the peasant farmer, and The Sparrow (1972) addressed the aftermath of the Six-Day War. ¹ The Emigrant (1994), inspired by the story of Joseph, created a controversy in Egypt between liberals and fundamentalists who opposed the depiction of religious characters in films, as the English article reports it. ¹

From 1978 he made four autobiographical films — Alexandria... Why? (1978, Silver Bear Special Jury Prize at Berlin), An Egyptian Story (1982), Alexandria, Again and Forever (1990) and Alexandria... New York (2004) — following his alter ego Yehia through his own life, family and relation to the United States. ¹

In 1997 his work was acknowledged at Cannes with the lifetime achievement award. ¹ He died in Cairo on 27 July 2008, aged 82, after a brain haemorrhage and coma. ^{1 2} Of his work he had said: "I make my films first for myself. Then for my family. Then for Alexandria. Then for Egypt." ¹

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