Celebrated Egyptian film-maker Chahine flown to France in coma

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — Egyptian film-maker Youssef Chahine, Arab cinema's most celebrated director, was flown to Paris on an emergency flight Monday, in a coma following a brain haemorrhage.

The 82-year-old Chahine, whose works have marked Egyptian cinema for half a century, was admitted to the American Hospital outside Paris where his niece told AFP his condition was "critical but stable."

After suffering a brain haemorrhage Saturday "it was decided Sunday night to transfer him to France," said his niece Marianne Khoury, who accompanied him on a specially chartered medical flight from Cairo to France.

Khoury said he remained "unconscious".

The American Hospital is highly reputed for its care and has notably treated US actress Jane Fonda, Chadian President...