Youssef Chahine Research Articles

The Other: Homage to Edward Said

The current investigation aims to explore the multimodality of the visual language in cinema, which articulates pictures and words into a creative medium of contemporary aesthetics and criticism. This multimodal discourse analysis focuses on Al-Akhar (The Other, 1999), a film that renders the postcolonial philosophy of Edward Said (1935-2002), the Palestinian-American critic. Youssef Chahine (1926-2008), the Egyptian cinematic artist, produced this film. The present creativity of multimodal cinematic visual language is significant in articulating form and content, where expressive components manifest through graphic, aesthetic, and semiotic symbolisms overlapping with local/global cinematographic ecologies. Three decades ago, Al-Akhar imagined today's media dominance when it criticised the sociopolitical landscape of the 1990s, which led to a series of inhumane incidents across different geographies at the beginning of the new millennium. It investigates the impacts of media and globalisation on Arabic social systems, discussing economies and cultural heritage with imperialism, colonialism, and capitalism. This paper aims to identify Youssef Chahine's cinematic art as a medium of Edward Said's criticism. Methodologically, it adopted the aesthetic analysis as a qualitative research method to explore the visual language in the cinematic medium. The research's question corresponds to the critical role of media in rendering the cultural issues of identity from aesthetic perspectives. This paper is significant because it explores the impact of critical thinking on multimodal media, which aesthetically incorporates language, fashion, architecture, sociology, philosophy and education. Furthermore, it identifies a significant dualism in art resembling a multimodal articulation of Edward Said's criticism and Youssef Chahine's cinema.

Strategies of unworlding in Youssef Chahine’s Adieu Bonaparte (1985)

ABSTRACT Bonaparte’s famous pronouncement regarding forty centuries of history looking down on his soldiers from the top of the Pyramids, is emblematic of his imperialist aspirations in Egypt. It also implies the production of a ‘worlding’ (Spivak, 1985), by its inscription of imperial discourse upon colonized space, or more specifically in this case, a relatively short military occupation with lasting consequences. At the time of its release in 1985, the film Adieu Bonaparte directed by Youssef Chahine, displeased critics in the two countries that co-produced it. In France, it was seen as ‘chaotic’ and ‘anti-French’; in Egypt, rather than a film that properly showed the Egyptian resistance to the French invasion, it was deemed as a film ‘about love’. Arguably, these critiqued aspects of the film could be seen as part of Chahine’s strategy to counter the violence of Bonaparte’s worlding of Egypt, and to affirm a national self-determination that is responsible and responsive to the other. Working with Spivak’s term, I contend that Chahine resists and undoes Bonaparte’s hegemonic structure through a series of formal strategies that I call strategies of unworlding, among which the depiction and references to the Pyramids of Giza are notable examples.

Youssef Chahine's Al-Ard: Film Adaptation

Youssef Chahine's Al-Ard: Film Adaptation

On the Heels of 1967: Chahine, Cinema, and Emotional Response(s) to the Defeat

AbstractMany scholars have addressed the 1967 war in their studies, exploring its origins and aftermath, mostly in the context of diplomacy, the military, or regional and Cold War politics. Studies dealing with the war's repercussions on social, intellectual, and cultural life in Egypt are substantial as well. Yet the scholarship dedicated primarily to the study of emotions on the heels of the war remains scarce and disproportionate to the magnitude of the defeat. By juxtaposing films such as al-Ard (The Land, 1970), al-Ikhtiyar (The Choice, 1971), and al-ʿUsfur (The Sparrow, 1974), all directed by Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine, with contemporaneous essays, films, songs, interviews, and the press, I examine the different emotional responses of Chahine and, by extension and association, Egyptian cineasts and critics on the heels of the defeat, tracing their change between June 1967 and October 1973, when Egypt retaliated by launching an attack on Israeli positions in the Sinai Peninsula, and their possible connection to the existing understandings of the defeat at the time.

Surrealist Nuance and Postcolonial Subjectivity

In its origins, surrealism transpired as a radical subversive culture within advanced capitalist societies in Europe during the first few decades of the twentieth century. In colonial and postcolonial societies, however, surrealism variously assumed a quintessence of a protracted struggle between, on the one hand, the old and neocolonial cultural hegemony and, on the other hand, the subversive resistance by the neocolonized, with all the paradoxical elements that are part and parcel of that struggle. One of the few manifestations of a surrealism-inspired cinematic work in the Arab world during the last century is Youssef Chahine’s Alexandria, Again and Forever (1990). This critically acclaimed film is a rich example of Arab cinema that celebrates non-normative personal identity while simultaneously rethinking traditional notions of nation under colonial rule. This third installment of Chahine’s autobiographical film quartet, which he intermittently drew over the course of his thirty-year career, indulges a complex exposé of Chahine the man, the artist, and the political activist. It also draws on mostly imagined, and partly real, episodes in the filmmaker’s life. As such, and rather than using a typically grand anticolonial metanarrative, the film favors the depiction of multiple surrealist proliferations of difference, juxtapositions, dislocation, and distortions seen not as embodiments of a single truth but rather as energized political and aesthetic forms of a collective project for revamping Egyptian and Arab identity and reality.

The Female Burden Visualized: Cinematic Representation of Women during Epidemics

The Female Burden Visualized: Cinematic Representation of Women during Epidemics

Land in Revolt

Abstract In this article, I examine the politicization of natural resources like water and land, and the wider entanglement of environments and politics, in Egyptian cinematic imaginaries. I focus on Youssef Chahine’s film al-Ard (The land, 1969) and its politicization of agricultural land during the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser (1954–1970) and the British colonial occupation of Egypt (1882–1956). Because histories of colonialism and nationalism in the Arab world are rooted in the economic and political exploitation of material resources (including land, water, and people), I draw on eco-criticism as a method of critical reading to analyze the film’s depictions of these configurations of political power and resource management. I argue that al-Ard roots its depiction of the resistance of the Egyptian peasantry (fellahin) in environmental terms, namely, restrictions to resource access and the affective relationships of the peasants to the land. By tracing these imbrications, I seek to relocate environmental concerns in scholarship on political resistance with reference to Nasser-era cinema.

The Homoerotics of Orientalism

The Homoerotics of Orientalism

Cannes 2015: Where Is Africa?

Cannes 2015:Where Is Africa? Olivier Barlet Translated by Nzingha Kendall and Julie Le Hégarat We’re reading everywhere that Africa will be almost absent at this year’s edition of Cannes. But which Africa do we mean? With the last-minute addition of Lamb (2015, Ethiopia), by the Ethiopian filmmaker Yared Zeleke in the official selection of Un Certain Regard, African cinemas are present in the most prestigious international competition, the event where the largest concentrations of journalists worldwide assemble for a film festival. The anxiety was this: the continent’s absence, its invisibility, and also its rejection—the lack of recognition of its value. Herein lies the point of contention. Until Mahamat Saleh-Haroun’s Un Homme qui crie / A Screaming Man (2010, Chad) was awarded the jury prize in 2010, Sub-Saharan African filmmakers had been absent from official competition for thirteen years, despite being represented almost every previous year. During this time North African filmmakers were not present either, except for Rachid Bouchareb with Indigènes / Days of Glory (France) in 2006 (whose main actors won a collective award for Best Actor) and Hors la loi / Outside the Law (dir. Rachid Bouchareb, France) in 2010. Since then African filmmakers have been present. However, gone are the days when the French Minister of Foreign Affairs pressured the festival to include films that were financed by the Ministry in competition. Why, moreover, should a program that aims for excellence, be obliged to represent all five continents if none of the continents produces a film that supersedes the rest? Especially since the Official Selection assembles a large group of established cineastes (with a few exceptions), whereas A Certain Regard welcomes up-and-coming directors. The secret of Cannes’s program, and its enduring success, is that the selected films maintain a balance between demanding auteur films like Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s 2010 Golden Palm winner Loong Boonmee raleuk chat / Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Thailand), and others that [End Page 234] bet everything on cinema’s magic power over a more general audience. The selection committee is also equally attentive to choosing films from the most diverse number of countries—without overrepresenting one over another—especially in the case of French films. The creation of Un Certain Regard in 1978 allowed more daring and original films and lesser-known auteur films to be shown. In 1962 the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics created International Critics’ Week, which was reserved for first and second films. The French Directors Guild established the Directors’ Fortnight in 1969, and later ACID (Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema) started their own program [in 1993]. Thanks to these associations, a large number of films that normally would not receive as much attention have a showcase at Cannes—which does not necessarily imply that they have greater visibility overall. The relative absence of Africa at Cannes corresponds to an ongoing crisis (due to the reduction of international funding) in African auteur cinema. Currently African films increasingly rely on digital equipment, but their low budgets and filmmakers’ lack of formal training mean that these productions are geared toward a local audience. Thus, very few of these filmmakers make their mark on the international scene. Nonetheless, every choice brings frustrations, and at times resentment. Every year has its hard feelings or misunderstandings reinforced by the awards: the selection committee is called misogynist (not enough films by women), too intellectual (too many auteur films), or ethnocentric (not enough films from the global South). Of course we are most interested in this last point. Due to too much competition or lack of recognition some great films have not been accepted or were only shown at less popular special screenings which are out of competition. Such was the case of Abderrahmane Sissako’s Bamako (2006, Mali), which had a successful theatrical release (195,444 tickets sold in France in 2006). Although his Timbuktu (2014, Mali) did not win any prizes in competition at Cannes in 2014, he got his revenge winning seven Cesars, and at last count, the film had sold 1.2 million tickets in France, breaking the record for African film held by Youssef Chahine...

Cinema and its image

Cinema, or motion pictures, is known as ‘the art of the moving image’. Historically, fine arts have never been prohibited by the three monotheistic religions, but after the emergence of cinema, some religious leaders not only considered it ‘undesirable’ but also called for its outright prohibition. However, no consensus has ever been reached among jurists. Cinema is a universal language and a method of narration, recounting and storytelling whose popularity exceeds that of any other art as it is more entertaining and bedazzling. Egypt was a pioneer among Arab countries in the field of cinema, producing immortal films that addressed the sufferings and concerns of its people in an artistic manner. Throughout the history of Arab cinema its trends have varied from realism and neo-realism to biography, which was introduced by Youssef Chahine. Moreover, the evolution of cinema in Arab countries, notably Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon, could not have been achieved without breaking taboos and tackling problematic issues within society.

From Chahine’s al-Iskandariyya … leh to Salata baladi and ʿAn Yahud Misr

This study examines the discursive trajectories of the cosmopolitan Egyptian Jew in the documentaries Salata baladi (Nadia Kamel, 2007) and ‘An Yahud Misr (Amir Ramses, 2012) in light of Youssef Chahine’s classic al-Iskandariyya … leh (1978). Undoubtedly, each of these films provides a complex story of Jewish life in Egypt and, taken together, these creative works offer an alternative to formulaic representations of Jews in Egyptian cinema and television. Yet, a close analysis of the three films reveals an underlying problematic rendering of cosmopolitanism in the context of the Egyptian Jewish community. Arguably, the filmmakers’ main interest in attending to the Jewish question relates more to nostalgic views of Egyptianness (of the pre-1952 Revolution era) as a cosmopolitan, multiethnic and multi-religious identity, than to a genuine interest in Jewish life, history and religion. In other words, the limited and skewed view of the Jewish community, with its near exclusion of the poor, uneducated, monolingual and religiously traditional Jewish residents of Egypt, is driven primarily by anxieties about Egyptian identity in which cosmopolitan Jews are assigned a supporting role in the play of an idealized Egypt of the past and in challenging xenophobic sentiments in the present.

Chahine, Chaos and Cinema: A Revolutionary Coda

Youssef Chahine (1926–2008), Egypt’s most celebrated director, made forty-two films over six decades. His work, which runs the gamut from social realism to melodrama, musical comedy to grand historical spectacle, resisted easy compartmentalization. In his final film, Hiyya Fawda (Chaos, 2007), he returned to a favorite theme, Egypt’s national predicament, dispensing with his recent propensity to couch his criticism in allegorical/historical garb.This paper reads Chahine’s final film as a coda to his career, highlighting several key themes—political corruption and state brutality, sexual longing and deviancy—that reference, sometimes directly, his earlier classic work. Chahine’s depiction of Egypt marks him as a prescient, courageous observer of Egypt on the brink of an “Arab Spring,” perhaps even an oracle, certainly a romantic. The ending of his final film may be typically sentimental, but it is certainly less unbelievable than when the filming ended, even if it remains a cautionary tale.

Broken Heart of the City: Youssef Chahine’s Bab al-Hadid (Cairo Station)

Cairo Station/Bab al-Hadid (1958) is widely considered to be Youssef Chahine’s signature piece. For Chahine (1926-2008), Egypt’s most celebrated director, as well as most critics and viewers the filmic images became iconic. Yet because of its daring break with certain studio conventions, the film reaped negative reviews and public hostility upon its release. Despite its rediscovery in later years, it remains a film that is difficult to categorize, not quite neo-realist and not quite revolutionary, due to a strong melodramatic streak and a startling psycho-sexual, rather than political focus. This essay re-examines the classic film as the work of an artist struggling to bend genre conventions while exploring the kaleidoscope of a metropolis undergoing rapid sociological and political transformation. It explores the history of Cairo, and of Cairo’s central rail station, the claustrophobic epicenter of the story – a site of constant motion, to and from the city, of youthful hope and, all too often, of shattered, and at times, demented dreams.

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Teaching the Middle Ages on Film: Visual Narrative and the Historical Record

A comparatively new medium, film can be used for a range of discussions about the ways in which history is recorded, edited, shaped, and remembered; it is also useful for teaching contemporary interpretation of older literatures. Like historical fiction – or works of art more generally – movies with historical themes are most productively studied in their broader contexts, alongside, and in conjunction with, written sources. The classroom provides a perfect venue for such study. While reading and analyzing older texts, students can also be taught to read films for their authenticity, their accuracy or inaccuracy of detail in portraying the past, and for effective (or ineffective) use of purposeful or intentional anachronism, among other approaches. Film enhances the study of texts; careful reading of texts may, in turn, lead to more critical evaluation of film.

Art and Politics in the Cinema of Youssef Chahine

This review of the works of the influential Egyptian film director Youssef Chahine brings to light his role as a daring and versatile artist, social critic, and cultural archivist, whose films and documentaries, in addition to being entertaining, provide an insight into the Arab world. The accompanying interview adds background and dimension to Chahine's life and oeuvre.

Art and Politics in the Cinema of Youssef Chahine

Art and Politics in the Cinema of Youssef Chahine

Zhang Yimou in Lumière et Compagnie (1995): 52 Seconds x 9 Readings: An Exercise in Over-interpretation

Zhang Yimou was one of the 40 directors who agreed to contribute to Lumière et Compagnie.1 This film is a tribute to Auguste and Louis Lumière, two of the pioneers of cinema, on the 100th anniversary of their invention. The directors, in addition to Zhang, are predominantly well-established, male, and French, but also include Youssef Chahine, Peter Greenaway, and Liv Ullmann. Each directed a very short film, modeled on the Lumieres' original movies.

Egyptian Earth between the Pen and the Camera: Youssef Chahine's Adaptation of 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sharqawi's al-Ard/ ﺍﻷﺭﺽ ﺑﻴﻦ ﻗﻠﻢ ﺍﻟﺸﺮﻗﺎﻭﻱ ﻭﻛﺎﻣﻴﺮﺍ ﺷﺎﻫﻴﻦ

Egyptian Earth between the Pen and the Camera: Youssef Chahine's Adaptation of 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sharqawi's al-Ard/ ﺍﻷﺭﺽ ﺑﻴﻦ ﻗﻠﻢ ﺍﻟﺸﺮﻗﺎﻭﻱ ﻭﻛﺎﻣﻴﺮﺍ ﺷﺎﻫﻴﻦ