Legendary Egyptian director's films restored for new generations
A festival in Cairo featuring director Youssef Chahine's films is attracting a new generation, who are commemorating the 10th anniversary of his death.
Cairo’s historical Zawya Cinema has been the scene of long queues for the last 10 days since it began screening the restored films of Egypt’s legendary director Youssef Chahine.
An hour before screening began on Sept. 15, more than 400 people lined up in front of the cinema on the upscale Emadeddin Street in downtown Cairo. The film was his 1958 hit, “Bab al-Hadid” (“Cairo Station”); most of the tickets were already sold out.
"If Youssef Chahine were alive today, he would have shed tears of happiness," Ahmed Shehab, a young Egyptian who waited his turn in the long queue, told Al-Monitor. Shehab recalled the big fiasco when the movie first came out in 1958. At the time, some spectators who were displeased with the content of the film went on a rampage and destroyed some movie theaters. The movie, which was about a crippled newspaper vendor’s sexual obsessions, was not shown again for two decades.
Over the last 10 days, Zawya Cinema has screened 22 of Shahin's restored films – an homage to the director who died 10 years ago. Aflam Masr El Alamia, the company that manages Zawya Cinema, restored the films in collaboration with France's Cinematheque, making sure that Shahine's internationally famous films, such as "Al-Massir" (“Destiny”), "Bab al-Hadid," "Al-Ard" (“The Land”), "Adieu Bonaparte" and "Al-Mohajer" (“The Emigrant”), were included.
