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July 27, 2008

Famed Egyptian Film Director Chahine Dies at 82 
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Throughout his more than 40 films, Chahine tried to recapture the spirit
of multiculturalism and tolerance that he grew up with in Egypt, because
he saw it threatened by fundamentalism, dictatorship and imperialism 
Egyptian director Youssef Chahine reacts after winning the Cannes film
festival 50th anniversary award for all the movies he's directed, in
Cannes in this Sunday 18 May 1997 file photoRenowned Egyptian film maker
Youssef Chahine, whose films reached beyond the Arab world, died early
Sunday after several weeks in a coma. He was 82.Chahine was born to a
Lebanese Christian family in the port city of Alexandria, which was at
that time a center of cosmopolitan life in the Mediterranean with its
large foreign communities.Throughout his more than 40 films, he tried to
recapture the spirit of multiculturalism and tolerance that he grew up
with there, because he saw it threatened by fundamentalism, dictatorship
and imperialism.Chahine's films were popular internationally -
particularly in France. In 1997 he received a lifetime achievement award
at the Cannes film festival.His final film "Chaos" was released earlier
this year.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


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