Arab National Project in Youssef Chahine’s Cinema

Malek Khouri is the author of Filming Politics: Communism and the Portrayal of the Working Class at the National Film Board of Canada (1939–46) and co-editor of Working on Screen: Representations of the Working Class in Canadian Cinema. He is currently director of the film program in the Department of Performing and Visual Arts at the American University in Cairo.

PRAISE FOR YOUSSEF CHAHINE:"One of the few Egyptian filmmakers to gain an international audience in his lifetime. . . . his work stood apart for its artistic personality, empathy and willingness to tackle daring subject matter. His films were beloved in Egypt but also stoked controversy with their portrayals of sexuality, capitalism, gender, corruption and religious extremism."—Leila Latif, BFI/British Film Institute"An extraordinary and often controversial career extending over six decades and including thirty-seven feature films. . . . Chahine's brilliance at blending convention and innovation in his portraits of Egyptian life may unsettle those with fixed ideas about the Arab world—or about the distinction between popular and art film—but they continue to fascinate and delight anyone with an open mind and a true love of cinema."—Harvard Film Archive

• Preface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. An Unfinished Project: Chahine and the Arab National Project2. Popular Cinema and Conceptualizing Class and Social Change3. Political Intervention and the Struggle for National Unity and Liberation4. institutional Shifts and Political Divergences5. The Prodigal Director6. Identity and Difference7. Resistance, Heterogeneity, and Historical Memory8. Queer Transgression and Postcolonial Ambivalence9. Religious Fundamentalism and the Power of HIstory10. National Liberation in the Age of Globalization11. Chahine as an Author and as an Organic Arab IntellectualNotes Bibliography Index