First Impressions: Thinking Aloud About Film

Martin Stollery is the author of a monograph on Youssef Chahine's The Emigrant, the most sustained analysis of any one Youssef Chahine film I've been able to find in English. Here we talk about the film itself, how it allegorises, the meaning and uses of water in Chahine's films, the famous court case that is part of the context of the film's release, and the film's relationship to Biblical epics...

A discussion of Alexandria Again and Forever, focussing on the uses of Shakespeare, the influence of the American musical on Chahine, John Gielgud's visit to perform Hamlet in Cairo, queer desire, the peplum film, Alexander, Anthony and Cleopatra, Art and Activism, the 1978 cinema artists' strike in Egypt.

A discussion of Youssef Chahine's An Egyptian Story, the second part of his Alexandria Trilogy, and one which is self-reflexive on his career thus far, highlighting Cairo Station, Saladin, Jamila The Algerian, Un jour le nil, The Sparrow and other of his films. We trace recurring patterns: the type of mise-en-scène, the use of Shakespeare, the references to American musicals, the deployment of a r...

A discussion of Youssef Chahine's ALEXANDRIA, WHY? with José Arroyo, Richard Layne and special guest star Andrew Moor. Richard Dyer named this as one of his favourite queer films of all time.

A great discussion of a fascinating film, part Teen musical, part Tennessee Williams, and an exploration of the social and political issue that arose after the death of Nasser and Egypt's defeat in the Six Day War with Israel, filmed with great verve and style.

After our podcast of Un jour, Le Nile, Richard discovered the 1972 recut and partly remade version of the film on You Tube and we decided to see it, explore its differences from the 1968 version and the director's cut and see how that might have affected its narrative, its politics and the way that ire represents sexuality. What is a filmmaker against the combined diplomatic and internal exigencie...

A dense and rich political film with extraordinary mise-en-scène that begins with an open letter to the Egyptian people and ends with Nasser informing Egypt of the loss of the Six Day War with Israel and announcing his resignation as the people take to the streets. The Sparrow is perhaps the least pleasurable of his films we've seen so far but very rewarding indeed. The more we talked about it and...

A real find, the director´s cut of a celebrated film maudit, currently made available on the Henri platform through the great generosity of the Cinémathèque Française. A celebration of the Soviet-Egyptian collaboration that resulted in the building of the Aswan Dam, this film is also a critique of the dispossession and displacement it led to, a feminist critique of the loss of identity that accomp...

The Youssef Chahine Podcast No. 6: The Land aka The Earth by Jose Arroyo & Richard Layne

An extraordinary political melodrama about liberation struggles in colonial settings, produced by its female star and released at the same time as Mehboob Kahn's Mother India, with which it would ideally be programmed. When we began this podcast I was a bit anxious that we weren't knowledgeable enough on Chahine's oeuvre to say anything worth listening to. But as I've began reading the literature...

A discussion of Youssef Chahine's Saladin which offers some context on the cinematic representation of Saladin in relation to Richard the Lion Heart, some historical information in its relation to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's efforts to maintain a United Arab Republic, and Chahine's attempts to narrate those aspirations through the story of Saladin. We admire the film's use of the Cinem...

Our third podcast on Youssef Chahine films, this one on Cairo Station, a combination of Dickensian melodrama, Marxist analysis, neorealist aspirations, film noir techniques, and with a contemporary relevance in its Incel-on-a-rampage theme. A brilliant work, probably the best we've seen so far (though those with a penchant for romance might prefer The Blazing Sun).

A discussion of Youssef Chahine's Dark Water, currently on Netflix. José and Richard discuss how the film introduces the viewer to another culture which might seem sexist and authoritarian to modern sensibilities and that in spite of that is moving, compelling and beautiful. The podcast ranges over the sensuality depicted, the detection of elements of Shakespeare's Othello and Hamlet in some scene...

José Arroyo and Richard Layne discovered the work of Youssef Chahine at a retrospective of his work at Bologna last year, are thrilled that so many previously difficult-to-see films of his are now available on Netflix, and hope that these podcasts encourage people to watch and discuss the films. This is the first in a series. We hope to cover as many of them as possible, and in chronological order...