Youssef Chahine

Biography

Youssef Chahine (born in Alexandria, Egypt, 1926) started studying in a friars' school and then turned to Victoria College until High School Certificate. After one year at the University of Alexandria, he moved to the U.S. and spent two years at the Pasadena Play House, taking courses on film and dramatic arts. After coming back to Egypt, cinematographer Alevise Orfanelli helped him into the film business. His film debut was Baba Amin (1950): one year later, with Son of the Nile (1951) he was first invited to the Cannes Film festival. In 1970, he was awarded a Golden Tanit at the Carthage Festival. With Le moineau (1973), he directed the first Egypt-Algeria co-production. He won a Silver Bear in Berlin for Alexandria... Why? (1979), the first installment in what proved to be an autobiographic trilogy, completed with Hadduta Masriya (1982)(An Egyptian Story (1982)) and Alexandria: Again and Forever (1989). In 1992, Jacques Lassalle proposed him to stage a piece of his choice for Comédie Française: Chahine chose to adapt Albert Camus' "Caligula," which proved hugely successful. The same year he started writing The Emigrant (1994), a story inspired by the Biblical character of Joseph…

Directed

1. To Each His Own Cinema (2007) — Director
2. Cairo Station (1958) — Director
3. September 11 (2002) — Director
4. Lumière & Company (1995) — Director
5. Destiny (1997) — Director
6. The Blazing Sun (1954) — Director
7. The Land (1970) — Director
8. Return of the Prodigal Son (1976) — Director
9. Saladin (1963) — Director
10. Alexandria… Why? (1979) — Director
11. Chaos, This Is? (2007) — Director
12. The Emigrant (1994) — Director
13. Struggle in the Harbor (1956) — Director
14. Alexandria Again and Forever (1989) — Director
15. The Other (1999) — Director
16. An Egyptian Story (1982) — Director
17. Adieu Bonaparte (1985) — Director
18. The Choice (1971) — Director
19. Son of the Nile (1951) — Director
20. Alexandria... New York (2004) — Director
21. Jamila, the Algerian (1958) — Director
22. The Sixth Day (1986) — Director
23. Baba Amin (1950) — Director
24. The Ring Seller (1965) — Director
25. The People and the Nile (1972) — Director
26. The Sparrow (1972) — Director
27. Silence... We're Rolling (2001) — Director
28. Cairo as Told by Youssef Chahine (1991) — Director
29. Lady of The Train (1952) — Director
30. My One And Only Love (1957) — Director
31. Dawn of a New Day (1964) — Director
32. Farewell, Love (1956) — Director
33. The Great Clown (1952) — Director
34. The Devil of the Desert (1954) — Director
35. In Your Hands (1960) — Director
36. Lovers' Call (1960) — Director
37. Women Without Men (1953) — Director
38. Forever Yours (1959) — Director
39. A Man in My Life (1961) — Director
40. Sands of Gold (1971) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Cairo Station (1958) — Qinawi
2. The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011) — Self
3. Alexandria Again and Forever (1989) — Yehia Eskendarany / Marc Antoine / Sostratus / Hephaestion
4. An Egyptian Story (1982) — Old Yehia
5. Ouija (2006)
6. The Sixth Day (1986) — Rafah
7. Cairo as Told by Youssef Chahine (1991) — Self
8. Dawn of a New Day (1964) — Hamada
9. Ismail Yassine in the Air Force (1959)
10. Arab Camera (1987) — Self
11. Women Without Men (1953)
12. Let's Talk (2019) — Self (archive footage)
13. Spécial cinéma (1974) — Self
14. Concerto in Darb Saada (1998)
15. Kiarostami in Close up (2000) — as Self
16. Into Studio Masr (2019) — Self
17. Trio (1987) — Self
18. Women Who Loved Cinema (2002) — Self
19. Cinématon XIV (1981) — N°133
20. Chahine & Co (1992)
21. Chahine…Why? (2009) — Self
22. شاهين ابن النيل — himself
23. Matin Bonheur (1987) — Self
24. Shaheen... Why? — self