CAIRO STATION (DVD)

Youssef Chahine established his international reputation with this masterpiece, which, though initially a commercial failure in Egypt, would become one of the most influential and celebrated works in all of Arab cinema. The director himself stars as Kenawi, a disabled newspaper hawker whose obsession with a sultry drink seller (Hind Rostom, known as the Marilyn Monroe of Arabia) leads to tragedy of operatic proportions on the streets of Cairo. Blending elements of neorealism with provocative noir-melodrama, Cairo Station is a work of raw populist poetry that explores the individuals search for a place in Egypts new postrevolutionary political order. DVD SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New 4K digital restoration New 2K digital restoration of Cairo as Seen by Chahine (1991), a short documentary by Youssef Chahine, with an introduction by film scholar Joseph Fahim New interview with Fahim Chahine . . . Why? (2009), a documentary on the director and Cairo Station Excerpt from Chahines appearance