For the first time in Cairo, Youssef Chahine’s CineConcert will be on the Cairo Opera House stage next Saturday, 21st August 2021.

The tribute will be happening for the first time since its debut at El Gouna Film Festival in 2018.

The Orchestra is led by the amazing Orchestrator and Conductor Hesham Gabr, collaborating with Misr International Film and award-winning director Amir Ramses.

About Youssef Chahine

Art does not only reflects culture but influences it, creating the forms and ideas that shape society. Art doesn’t just tell the story of people. Art establishes and reinforces the patterns of beauty, power, and expression that culture then inhabits.

And when it comes to Civilization and Art, Youssef Chahine is the best one to tell us how he sees them.

Civilization is how you contact the other people. Do you know how to love? Do you know how to care?

This is Civilization

Youssef Chahine

Youssef Chahine (born in Alexandria, Egypt, 1926) started studying in a friars’ school and then turned to Victoria College until the High School Certificate. After one year at the University of Alexandria, he moved to the U.S. and spent two years at the Pasadena Play House, taking film and dramatic arts courses. After coming back to Egypt, cinematographer Alevise Orfanelli helped him into the film business.

He was active in the Egyptian film industry from 1950 until his death.

How Great Is Youssef Chahine?

His film debut was Baba Aman (1950): one year later, with Son of the Nile (1951), he was first invited to the Cannes Film festival. Then, in 1970, they awarded him a Golden Tanit at the Carthage Festival. Then, with Le moineau (1973), he directed the first Egypt-Algeria co-production.

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 (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. Then, in 1997, 46 years and 5 invitations later, he was again selected Hors Competition in Cannes with Destiny (1997).

A remarkably prolific and innovative artist, the multitude of genres and themes in Chahine’s work tell stories from war to social dramas, but never missing the endearment and struggle of the human condition. We’re Missing him. We will never Forget you, Chahine.

For tickets: Click here.