1950s Egyptian Cinema, Youssef Chahine & The Politics of the Canon

Name both screenings for this topic

Barsoum Looking for a Job - Mohamed Bayoumi (1923)

The Blazing Sun/Struggle in the Valley - Youssef Chahine (1954)

Name 3 events in Egyptian History from 1919 to 1960 (EXCLUDING film history)

• 1919: Revolution against British occupation of Egypt and Sudan

• 1922: Formal independence from Britain

• 1952: King Farouk overthrown and replaced by a president

When is the Egyptian Film Industry NATIONALISED?

1960s

During what decade was the first Egyptian films made?

1920s

Give two titles of early Egyptian films and their years of release

• Kiss in the Desert (1927)

• Laila (1927)

Give 3 points of information about the nature of Egyptian Film in the early 20th century

• Focus on producing Commercial entertainment

• Genre and star driven

• Popular with a broad audience of both Egypt and the wider Arab World

Give 2 dominant genres of Egyptian Cinema

• Musicals

• Melodramas

According to JOEL GORDON, what two factors contributed to Egyptian Cinema’s focus on ENTERTAINMENT?

• Market demand

• Impact of working within a repressive political and social order

“the - of - within a - - and - order” - Joel Gordon on why Egyptian Cinema focused on entertainment

“the exigencies of working within a repressive political and social order”

Give the year of birth and year of death for Youssef Chahine

1926

2008

Name the required reading for this week

‘The Arab National Project in Youssef Chahine’s Cinema’ by Malek Khouri’

According to Malek Khouri, The Blazing Sun was among the first Egyptian films to “- express an - - favoring the - over - - -”

“unambiguously express an intellectual position favoring the peasants over the feudal lord”

How does Youssef Chahine’s cinema relate to the socio-economic system of Egypt? (3 points)

• Chahine’s films (Such as The Blazing Sun) provides meaningful social commentary on Egyptian working class struggles of the 1950s

• Empathy for marginalized social classes can be seen in his work

• Utilises the commercial genre of melodrama in order to achieve this