Exceptional working stills and impromptu shots of gifted Arab filmmaker Youssef Chahine will go on display at the Dubai Media City.

The exhibition of rare photographs titled: ‘The Magic of Cinema’ in Dubai, documenting the world of cinema, will be held from December 11 to 16, 2007. The event is being organised in association with the Fourth Dubai International Film Festival and presented by the French Embassy in the UAE and Alliance Française de Doubaï.

Youssef Chahine, director of some 40 films, is regarded as the most independent of Arab film-makers, producing what he thinks is important, even at his own expense, and raising issues that concern the masses. 

“Youssef Chahine is a filmmaker of international eminence. He has created one of the most diverse and prestigious bodies of film work of any living Arab film director and the Magic of Cinema offers Dubai’s audiences with an opportunity to see him like never before,” said French Embassy’s regional Audiovisual Attache Raphael Millet.

Millet noted that Chahine's work is on par with those of celebrated international directors such as Fellini, Bergman and Kurosawa and emphatically draws influence from its links with one of the most vibrant popular cinemas of the world and is rooted in the rich traditions of popular Arabic culture.

In recognition of Chahine’s contributions to Arab and international cinema, the Fourth Dubai International Film Festival will present to him the “DIFF Lifetime Achievement Award.”

 “It was therefore very important and relevant that we had some pictures of Youssef Chahine in this exhibition,” said Millet.

Magnum photographers have been involved in the documenting of world of cinema, working on film sets, photographing film directors, actors and actresses on and off the camera and documenting their lives. They have collectively covered the modern history of cinema. – TradeArabia News Service