Panel: Do you believe in Cinema after Defeat?
- > Sunday, 26 April 2026 · 17:00 | Spore Initiative |
In 1967, the Arab world experienced a profound political and psychological rupture following the Six-Day War. The defeat, known in Arabic as al-Naksa (the setback), deeply affected artists and intellectuals across the region. For Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine, this historical moment became a turning point that reshaped both his cinema and his political consciousness.
Chahine’s response to defeat culminated in his films after. The Choice (1971), The Sparrow (1972), The Return of the Prodigal Son (1976), which interrogate the causes and consequences of collective trauma. Rather than offering a simple political diagnosis, these films explore how defeat reverberates through intimate lives, personal identities, and artistic expression.
In Chahine’s cinema, political catastrophe becomes a catalyst for self-examination and reinvention. Chahine moved after that to two main cinematic lines, first retelling his own story in his autobiographical films (Alexanderia trilogy), (Egyptian story) and revisiting the history (Adieu Bonaparte), (the sixth day), (the immigrant) and (the destiny).
Marking the centenary of Chahine’s birth, this panel reflects on the relationship between defeat and transformation in cinema, in artistic practice, and in personal memory. How does political defeat reshape creative voices? How do filmmakers process collective trauma through storytelling? And what can Chahine’s work teach us about confronting defeat today?
We discuss that with Viola Shafik (Egyptian-German filmmaker, writer and theorist) and Essa Grayeb (Palestinian visual artist), both of them have a personal connection to the cinematic legacy of Youssef Chahine.
Curated and moderated by Hosam Fahmy (Film critic and psychiatrist).
This panel is open to festival attendees, those who love Chahine, those who want to engage with his cinema, those who want to learn more about him, and most importantly, all those who try to survive despite defeat.
