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Youssef Chahine:
A discussion of the frequently controversial film maker Youssef Chahine. The book aims to illuminate Chahine's work in the context of modern Egyptian culture and its tumultuous post-war history and how such films as "Cairo Station" (1958), "The Earth" (1959) and "The Sparrow" (1973) dramatized the dilemmas of ordinary Egyptians. He also argues that Chahine's intensely autobiographical trilogy "Alexandria...Why?" (1978), "An Egyptian Story" (1985) and "Alexandria...More and More" (1989) spoke to the concerns of the broader Egyptian intelligentsia amongst whom he has earned the reputation of being the "poet and thinker" of modern Arab cinema. The final analysis of the book argues that Chahine's work stands comparison with directors such as Fellini, Bergman, Kurosawa or Sembene but also emphatically draws strength from its links with one of the most vibrant popular cinemas of the world and from the roots and traditions of popular Arabic culture.
208 pages, Library Binding
First published November 1, 2001
11 people want to read
About the author
Ibrahim Fawal
6 books5 followersIbrahim Fawal (born 1933) is a Palestinian-American academic, former professor, and author of the historical novel On the Hills of God, about the experiences of a young Palestinian man during the Nakba, or "catastrophe" of 1948. He currently lives in Birmingham, Alabama.
Fawal was born in Ramallah, Palestine in 1933. He later moved to the United States, where he earned an M.A. in film from UCLA. He worked as an assistant to director David Lean during the filming of Lawrence of Arabia in 1961, before settling in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was a professor of film and literature at the University of Alabama.
In 1996, at the age of 63, Fawal began working on his Ph.D. at Oxford University in England. His thesis, on renowned Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine, was published by the British Film Institute and University of California Press in 2001. Fawal's first novel, On the Hills of God, was published in 1998 and tells the story of the Palestinian Nakba, or "catastrophe", through the eyes of a young Palestinian man named Yousif Safi. It was the recipient of the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award, and has been translated into Arabic and German.
Fawal was born in Ramallah, Palestine in 1933. He later moved to the United States, where he earned an M.A. in film from UCLA. He worked as an assistant to director David Lean during the filming of Lawrence of Arabia in 1961, before settling in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was a professor of film and literature at the University of Alabama.
In 1996, at the age of 63, Fawal began working on his Ph.D. at Oxford University in England. His thesis, on renowned Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine, was published by the British Film Institute and University of California Press in 2001. Fawal's first novel, On the Hills of God, was published in 1998 and tells the story of the Palestinian Nakba, or "catastrophe", through the eyes of a young Palestinian man named Yousif Safi. It was the recipient of the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award, and has been translated into Arabic and German.
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