Egypt bids farewell to legendary director Chahine

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

CAIRO (AFP) — Egyptian screen stars were among around 1,500 mourners who gathered at a Cairo church on Monday to bid farewell to Arab cinema's most celebrated director, Youssef Chahine, who died on Sunday aged 82.

Hundreds of celebrities and officials were crammed into the Roman Catholic Church of the Resurrection, with hundreds more gathered outside as the controversial director's coffin was carried in, draped in the Egyptian flag.

His protégé and colleague Khaled Youssef, who co-directed Chahine's latest film "Chaos" in 2007, was among the pall bearers.

The congregation included many of the biggest stars of Egyptian cinema -- for decades the Arab world's most popular -- alongside officials from the ruling National Democratic Party which was often targeted...