Biography for
Youssef Chahine More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

25 January 1926, Alexandria, Egypt

Date of Death

27 July 2008, Cairo, Egypt (brain hemorrhage)

Nom de naissance

Gabriel Youssef Chahine

Surnom

Joe

Mini Biography

Youssef Chahine (born in Alexandria, Egypt, 1926) started studying in a friars' school, and then turned to English College until the High School Certificate. After one year in 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 Ibn el Nil (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 Iskanderija... lih? (1978), the first installment in what proved to be an autobiographic trilogy, completed with _adduta misrija (1982)_ and Iskanderija, kaman oue kaman (1990).

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 Al-mohager (1994), a story inspired by the Biblical character of Joseph, son of Jacob. This had long been a dream-project, and he finally got to shoot it in 1994. In 1997, 46 years and 5 invitations later, he was again selected Hors Competition in Cannes with Al-massir (1997).

IMDb Mini Biography By: alberto.farina@iol.it

Anecdotes

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 199-206. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

In his autobiographical films, his character in known as Yehia.

Complete retrospective at the Locarno International Film Festival. [1996]

Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1983.

Member of the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 1980.

Personal Quotes

I am young. I am only 81 years old. I hope I can keep working for another 10 years. Old age is to let oneself become old.

Where Are They Now

(June 2008) According to "Arabya TV, is in a hospital, in Egypt, suffering from very bad health problems.

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