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Youssef Gabriel Chahine was born on January 25, 1926 in Alexandria, Egypt and died on July 27, 2008 in Cairo. He started studying at a frères' school, and then turned to English College until High School Certificate. After a year at the Alexandria University, where he mostly cared about theatre, he moved to the United States. At the Pasadena Play House, near Los Angeles, he took courses on film and dramatic arts for two years. It has been the operator Alvise Orfanelli “pioneer in Egyptian cinema” that opened the way for production to Chahine.
Chahine directed his first feature film, “Baba Amine”, in 1950. The following year, his feature film “Nil Boy” was invited to the Cannes Film Festival. In 1958, he directed and acted in one of his masterpieces: “The Iron Gate”.
After working with writer Abdel-Rahman Charkawi on « Jamila, the Algerian» (1958), Chahine adapted for the screen his novel « The Land » in 1969. In 1973, with “The Sparrow”, he showed his political opinions after the Six Day War with Israel.
In 1979, Chahine won a Silver Bear and the Grand Jury Prize as well at the Berlin Film Festival for “Alexandria... Why?” (1978), the first part of what would become an autobiographic series, completed with “An Egyptian Story” (1982), “Alexandria Again and Forever” (1989) and “Alexandria… New York” (2004). In 1984, “Adieu Bonaparte”, his first French coproduction, is presented in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 1986, the famous singer Dalida was the protagonist of “The Sixth Day” in the role of a poor Egyptian woman. Jacques Lassalle approached him to stage a piece of his choice for the Comédie-Française: Chahine chose to adapt Albert Camus’ “Caligula”, which proved hugely successful. In 1994, Chahine shot “The Emigrant”, a story inspired by the Biblical character of Joseph, son of Jacob. This had been a dream-project since the 50’s. In 1997, as his 33rd film “Destiny” is presented at the Cannes Film Festival, Chahine is awarded by the “Cinquentenaire Prize” for his whole work. After shooting the humanist film “The Other” in 1998 and the musical “Silence… We’re Rolling” in 2004, Chahine.directed in 2007 his thirty-eighth and last feature film, “This Is Chaos”. |
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