Nissan to lay off thousands of workers as sales drop    Trump picks Susan Wiles as White House chief of staff    Three charged in connection with Liam Payne's death    Israel passes law to deport relatives of attackers, including citizens    Monkey mayhem in South Carolina after 43 primates escape research facility    Russian anti-war teenager faces five years in jail after failed appeal    Uproar in Ghana after president unveils his own statue    BD and INS partner to elevate standards of infusion care in MENAT    Qassim emir launches 52 health projects costing a total of SR456 million    Dubai Design Week launches its 10th edition, celebrating creativity and innovation    Fakeeh Care Group reports 9M-2024 net profit of SR195.3 million, up 49% y-o-y driven by solid revenue growth and robust profitability    GASTAT: Passengers of public transport bus and train soar 176% and 33% respectively in 2023    HRT does not impact life expectancy — UK health body    Liam Payne's body to be flown back to the UK    Arab leaders and heads of state congratulate US President-elect Donald Trump    Neymar suffers muscle tear, out for 4-6 weeks    Suspect arrested for banking fraud totaling SR493 million as Nazaha pursues corruption charges    Al Nassr secures 5-1 victory over Al Ain to edge closer to knockout stage    Al Ahli extends perfect start with 5-1 victory over Al Shorta    Mitrovic's hat-trick leads Al Hilal to 3-0 victory over Esteghlal    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Muted Eid celebrations for millions of Nigerian Muslims    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Youssef Chahine, enfant terrible of Arab Cinema, dies at 82
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 28 - 07 - 2008

Youssef Chahine, one of Egypt's most lauded movie directors whose nearly five decades of films went on Fellini-esque flights of fancy and tackled social ills and Islamic fundamentalism, died Sunday in Cairo. He was 82.
His death comes about four weeks after he fell into a coma following a brain hemorrhage. Chahine was flown to France in critical condition for treatment but later sent back to Al Maadi Military Hospital in Cairo, where he died Sunday, according to Egypt's official new agency, MENA.
Chahine's eclectic work made him one of the few Egyptian directors to gain an audience abroad, particularly in Europe and France, where he won a lifetime achievement award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy issued a statement Sunday calling Chahine one of cinema's “most celebrated servants” and “a fervent defender of freedom of expression.” “Youssef Chahine sought throughout his life to denounce, through images, censure, fanaticism and fundamentalism,” Sarkozy said.
At home, his films raised controversy for their frank portrayal of sexuality, their sharp criticism of political oppression and, in his later works, their denunciations of rising Islamist militancy in Egypt. In 1994, a fundamentalist lawyer succeeded in getting a court to ban his film “The Emigrant” because its plot was based on the story of Joseph, found in the Bible and Quran. Most interpretations of Islam ban the depiction of prophets.
Chahine was born on Jan. 25, 1926 to a Christian family of Lebanese origin in Alexandria, the Mediterranean port known at the time as a cosmopolitan city, with large European and other foreign communities. Throughout his more than 40 films and documentaries, Chahine sought to recapture and defend the spirit of multicultural tolerance against the forces he saw undermining it – fundamentalism, dictatorship and imperialism.
Chahine grew up speaking French and English better than Arabic, and many of his films were French co-productions, bringing criticism by some at home that he was not Arab -- or Egyptian -- enough. But his early films became classics of social realism, giving gritty depictions of the lowest in Egyptian society. In his 1958 “Cairo Station,” Chahine himself starred as Qenawi, a mentally retarded newspaper seller at Cairo's main railroad station, who becomes obsessed with a woman selling lemonade.
“The Land” in 1969, seen by some as his greatest film, told an epic story of peasant farmers and landowners struggling over land in the Nile Delta.
In his Alexandria Trilogy “Alexandria, Why?”, “An Egyptian Story,” and “Alexandria Again and Forever” , Chahine turned autobiographical, recounting his childhood in his hometown, his love of Hollywood and his ambiguous feeling toward the United States, which he was drawn to but also saw as an overweening power. The 1978 “Alexandria, Why?” has a scene of the Statue of Liberty giving a sneering laugh at immigrants arriving in America.
“I have a problem with America, you can call it a dilemma,” Chahine – who studied acting for two years at Pasadena Playhouse in California in the 1940s – once told an interviewer. “I used to love it very much, I studied there, my first love was there ... I don't hate America as some think ... but it is difficult to sympathize with it.” The trilogy broke with the realist style, bringing in wild scenes of fantasy, musical numbers and surrealism that drew comparisons with Italian director Frederico Fellini.
“Alexandria, Why?” also raised eyebrows by telling the story of a Muslim man and a Jewish woman.
His later films tackled Islamic conservativism. After the banning of “The Emigrant,” Chahine responded with the historical film “Destiny,” about the 12th Century Muslim philosopher Averroes, whose books were banned by extremists in the Islamic kingdom of Andalus in what is now Spain.
His last movie, 2007's “This is Chaos”, co-directed with his protégé Khaled Youssef, was a sharp criticism of the Egyptian government's crackdown on democracy activists, depicting a corrupt police officer who takes bribes and tortures his detainees. Chahine is survived by his French wife Colette. He had no children. __


Clic here to read the story from its source.