Khaled Youssef is an Egyptian director and film writer. His films are noted for their use of improvisation and a realistic cinéma vérité

Cinéma vérité

Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...

 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

Youssef Chahine

Youssef Chahine was an Egyptian film director active in the Egyptian film industry since 1950. He was credited with launching the career of actor Omar Sharif...

. That's why, he has acquired his name "Youssef".

Biography

Born in 1965, 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

Dokkan Shehata

Dokkan Shehata is an Egyptian drama film produced in 2009. The main actors in this film are Muhammad Hamidah, 'Umaru Sa'ad, Ghadah 'Abd Al-Raziq, Haifa Wehbe, 'Umru 'Abd Al-Jalil, Tariq 'Abd Al-'Aziz, and 'Abd Al-Aziz Makhyoun. The film is produced by Khaled Youssef.-Controversy:Khalid Youssef...

" (Shehata Store) with the Lebanese star Haifa Wehbe

Haifa Wehbe

Haifa Wehbe born in Mahrouna, Lebanon on March 10, 1976 is a Lebanese model, actress, and singer born to a Lebanese father and Egyptian mother who rose to fame in the Arab world as runner up for Miss Lebanon and later through the release of her debut album Houwa El-Zaman in 2002...

.

Patriotic reactions

On January 28, 2011, Youssef was interviewed on Al-Arabiya channel and called for the government to protect the Egyptian Museum

Egyptian Museum

The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display, the remainder in storerooms....

 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

Middle East Broadcasting Center

The Middle East Broadcasting Center Group is the first private free-to-air satellite broadcasting company in the Arab World which was launched in London in 1991 and later moved to its headquarters in Dubai in 2002. MBC Group provides multiple channels of information, interaction and entertainment...

, 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.

External links

• http://www.al-shorfa.com/cocoon/meii/xhtml/en_GB/features/meii/features/2008/09/13/feature-03