Born in Alexandria in 1926 and dying in Cairo in 2008, Youssef Chahine studied acting in the United States and directed his first film at 23. Over about 40 films in six decades, he moved from popular melodramas and musicals to realist social dramas, political allegories and autobiographical films. Cairo Station (1958) is a landmark of Egyptian realism. The Land (1969) is a story of peasant resistance, and Alexandria… Why? (1978) opened his semi-autobiographical series. He won the Silver Bear in Berlin and a lifetime achievement prize at Cannes in 1997 for Destiny, and was often in conflict with censors and Islamist critics.
Filmography
- Blazing Sun (1954)
- Cairo Station (1958)
- The Land (1969)
- The Choice (1970)
- The Sparrow (1972)
- Alexandria… Why? (1978)
- Adieu Bonaparte (1985)
- Alexandria Again and Forever (1990)
- The Emigrant (1994)
- Destiny (1997) (1997)
- Chaos, This Is Life (2007)