Cairo Station
Cairo Station
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1h 17m
Directed by Youssef Chahine • 1958 • Egypt
Starring Youssef Chahine, Farid Shawqi, Hind Rostom
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 individual’s search for a place in Egypt’s new postrevolutionary political order.
Up Next in Cairo Station
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Spotlight on Youssef Chahine
The following interview with scholar Richard Peña was recorded in 2024.
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Joseph Fahim on CAIRO STATION
In this 2025 interview, film scholar and programmer Joseph Fahim discusses CAIRO STATION in the context of Egyptian politics, as well as director Youssef Chahine’s early career and his collaboration with the cast and crew.
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Chahine...Why?
This 2009 documentary by Mona Ghandour details the production of CAIRO STATION and includes interviews with director Youssef Chahine, screenwriter Abdel Hay Adib, and actors Hind Rostom and Farid Shawki.
