Chahine alive after 20 years on Cannes award

CAIRO – 21 May 2017: Friday, May 19 was the day the great director Youssef Chahine won the Cannes 50th anniversary lifetime achievement award 20 years ago.

Youssef Chahine Filming Career
Youssef Chahine was born in Alexandria in 1926. He travelled to Hollywood to study acting in Pasadena Playhouse, California in 1946. Upon his return, he decided to shift from acting to directing.

Chahine directed his first film “Baba Amin” (Dady Amin) in 1950. The following year, he directed his second, “Ibn El-Nil” (Son of the Nile), which was his first film to be invited to the Cannes Film Festival. Another famous film of his, “Al-Ikhtiyar” (The Choice), was awarded a Golden Tanit in Carthage Film Festival in 1970.

Nine years later, “Eskenderia Leh” (Alexandria …Why?), which is directed by Chahine and narrates his early life, won a Silver Bear and Special Jury prize in Berlin International Film Festival.

He continued the autobiographic quartet by “Hadouta Masryia” (An Egyptian story) in 1982, “Eskendria Kaman we Kaman” (Alexandria Again and Again) in 1990 and “Eskendria…New York” (Alexandria…New York) in 2004.

Chahine cooperated with the legendary French singer Dalida in “El-Youm El-Sades” (The Sixth Day), where she played the role of a poor, humble Egyptian woman.
He also established a production company named “Aflam Masr El-Alamya” (Misr International Films), producing plenty of films, some of which were directed by other directors, such “Shafiqa we Metwally” (Shafiqa and Metwally) by Aly Badrakhan.

El-Maseer (The Destiny) was nominated for the Palme d'Or in 1997, and against all expectations, the film did not win any prizes in the festival.

Chahine participated by 10 films at the Cannes Film Festival during his career which are:
1-Ibn El-Nil (Son of the Nile) - 1951

2 –Sera’ fi Al-Wadi (Struggle in the Valley) - 1954

3. El-Ard (The Land) - 1969

4 – Al-Asfour (The Sparrow)- 1972

5 – Wada’an Bonaparte (Goodbye Bonaparte) - 1985

6- El-Youm El-Sades (The Sixth day) -1986

7- Eskendria Kaman we Kaman (Alkexandria Again and Again) - 1990

8. El-Maseer (The Destiny) - 1997

9. El-Akhar (The Other) - 1999

10. (Alexandria…New York) - 2004


One of Chahine’s famous quotes, is “I make films first for myself, then for my family, then for Alexandria, then for Egypt… If the Arab world likes them, ahlan wa sahlan (welcome). If the foreign audience likes them, they are doubly welcome.”
Chahine died in his home on Sunday, July 27, 2008, leaving his creative imprint on all his films.