Youssef Chahine

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 US 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 EgyptAlgeria coproduction 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 1982An 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 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 Destiny 1997