Khaled Youssef

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Khaled Youssef (Arabic: خالد يوسف‎), is an Egyptian director and film writer. His films are noted for their use of improvisation and a realistic cinéma vérité style. Khaled Youssef, who has established a solid reputation as a successful filmmaker who does not shy away from controversial issues such as rape, political corruption and homosexuality. Despite attacks that he is promoting immorality, Youssef fights against the values he believes are holding Egyptian society back.

Trivia

Khaled Youssef has been the most loyal student of Youssef Chahine.

Biography

Born in 1964, Youssef is the youngest of his father’s 13 sons from seven marriages. He eventually left his village to study electrical and communication engineering at the Cairo campus of Banha University. Inspired by his love for the silver screen, Youssef invited his favorite directors to give public lectures at the university. One of them was Youssef Chahine.At age 25, Youssef entered Chahine’s shooting location and immediately decided he had found his career. After successfully completing his first film as an assistant, he was hired to assist Chahine on his hit film Al-Maseer, shot in five countries. After the success of Al-Massir, Chahine told Youssef that he was ready to start his own path directing, but Youssef, not yet feeling confident, continued to work by Chahine’s side on many movies like:Al-Massir (The Destiney), Al-Mohagir (The Emigrant), Heya Fawda..? (It's Chaotic)... In 2001, he launched his first film Al-Asefa (The Storm), which received the Silver Pyramid Award at the Cairo Film Festival. He wrote and directed many films since 1999, some of which are considered among the best Egyptian films of the last few years such as "El Rayes Omar Harb" (Mr Omar Harb), "Dokkan Shehata" (Shehata Store) with the Lebanese star Haifa Wehbe.

Patriotic reactions

On January 28, 2011, Youssef was interviewed on Al-Arabiya channel and called for the government to protect the Egyptian Museum from looters during the first days of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.

Political views

Youssef was exposed to politics from an early age. His father was a devoted follower of the Egyptian socialist movement. The director’s simple upbringing and early-developed political sympathies led him to focus his life’s work on the less advantaged in his country. “I was raised with a clear bias toward simple, underprivileged people,” Youssef told the Egyptian monthly Egypt Today in its August 2008 issue.

In his interview with the hosts of the television program “Kalam Nawam” on MBC channel, Youssef said the Egyptian people organized a peaceful revolution with great awareness. He confirmed he never imagined that the greatness of the Egyptian people could go that far, but he saw it happening right in front of him. Youssef, moreover, said those who opposed the revolution and called the protesters traitors should be questioned for what they did, whether from show business or any other field.[1]

External links

References

  1. ↑ "Khalid Youssef denies predicting the Egyptian Revolution". AnaYou. March 14, 2011. 
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