Remembering Youssef Chahine
A three-day symposium at the Higher Council for Culture this week commemorated the life and work of the late Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine, reports Rania Khallaf
Egypt's intellectuals came together at a three- day symposium held at the Higher Council for Culture (HCC) in Cairo this week to discuss the work of the late Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine. Limited for "administrative reasons" to writers and literary critics according to organiser Amina Zedan, the symposium aimed to provide a forum in which Chahine's contribution to Egyptian culture could be evaluated and his memory commemorated.
For the cinema critic Aly Abu Shady, who is also the HCC's Secretary-General, the aim of the symposium was to investigate Chahine's oeuvre through the eyes of writers and critics, since "for the last 50 years Chahine's work has been ripe material for writers on cinema," and it was felt that now was the time for wider discussion to take place.
According to Abu Shady, Chahine's The Emigrant (1994) and The Destiny (1997) are among the best representatives of the filmmaker's overall project. "Chahine's historical films express his vision of reality," Abu Shady said, adding that "Chahine's technique in general is to use the past as a way of deciphering the present." In well-known historical films such as Saladin and the Great Crusades and Adieu Bonaparte Chahine used history to reflect on present reality, he said.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/912/cu2.htm
Ahram Weekly Issue No. 912
28 August - 3 September 2008
