SHERIF MANDOUR, A Revolutionary Filmmaker in Revolutionary Egypt.   In the ancient land and rapidly transforming lifestyle of modern Egypt, producer Sherif Mandour is a man of his time. Apart from achieving worldwide acclaim, his last three films produced were predicting the revolution, a revolution from without and within. Through his longtime career in cinema, Mandour had worn many hats as an actor, director, distributor, commercial voiceover, producer and most...

           Yousry Nasrallah Screening outside, on the second evening of KINOTOK was Egyptian film director, Yousry Nasrallah's seventh feature, SCHEHERAZADE, TELL ME A STORY, a film about women for women, by the socially conscious director, a Copt, born in 1952.   This contemporary portrayal of politics and female issues in today's CAIRO stars the glamorous and utterly modern Hebba (Mona Zakki) as the speaker of a SUN TV show that opines on cases of corruption in Egypt. She...

The 65th Venice International Film Festival is dedicated to Youssef Chahine. In remembrance of the great film maker, his masterpiece Bab el hadid (Cairo Station, 1958) –which stars Chahine himself– will be shown at midnight in the Sala Grande on Sunday August 31st. “He loved the cairote studio system, but chose instead to get the cinema of the Arab world off to a new start, leading it in a different direction and taking all the risks on his own shoulders – even moving over the other sid...

The main Spotlight of the 49th edition of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival centers on the current cinema of the Middle East. The Middle Eastern region, tantamount to political, religious and social struggles, lies in close geographical proximity to Greece and possesses vital contemporary political significance. It exhibits a cinematic diversity that creates portraits of many distinct histories, identities and conflicts and it is now more than ever revealing its issues and sentiments ...

Chahine was born into a Christian Egyptian family, a Greek mother and a father of Lebanese descent in Alexandria, Egypt,[2][3] on January 25, 1926.[1] Chahine began his education at a frères' school and continued his studies at the Victoria College. After one year at Alexandria University, he moved to the United States to study acting at the Pasadena Playhouse.Starting as a directorAfter returning to Egypt, he turned his attention to directing. Cinematographer Alvise Orfanelli helped Chahine in...

Dr. Ramses Marzouk is one of the most popular Egyptian cinematographers. The Malta International Film Festival will organize an exhibition collecting a selection of photos from his most successful films. The exhibition counts more then 100 images, it will follow and document the history of Egyptian cinema throughout Marzouk’s work from black and white till his most recent features. Ramses Marzouk has worked as the director of photography in more than 50 feature films and many other short...

The Yacoubian Building is reputed to be the most expensive Egyptian film of all time, and is an exceptional piece of filmmaking. Adapted from Alaa El Aswany's novel of the same name, the highly-anticipated picture follows the lives of fictional characters living in the Yacoubian Building; home to members of Cairo's upper-class since 1937. El Aswany's novel deals with power, corruption, sex, exploitation, poverty and extremism. It is one of the best-selling Arabic-language works of fiction in rec...