'Summer Thefts', Nasrallah's first feature film, premiered at Directors Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988.
Egyptian filmmaker Yousry Nasrallah will receive the Golden Pyramid Honorary Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 45th Cairo International Film Festival scheduled for November 15-24.
The award will be given in appreciation of what Nasrallah has presented throughout his artistic career.
Nasrallah is best known internationally for works such as El Medina (1999), The Gate Of Sun (2004), and After The Battle (2012). His most recent feature was the 2016 family drama Brooks, Meadows and Lovely Faces, which also premiered at Locarno before playing in Toronto, Hamburg, Tallinn and Goteborg.
The late Youssef Chahine, for whom Nasrallah worked as an assistant director in An Egyptian Story and Adieu Bonaparte, introduced him to the business side of filmmaking. Nasrallah and Chahine collaborated on the script for Adieu Bonaparte.
Having started his career as an assistant in the 1980s, Nasrallah went on to make his own features including the 1999 Locarno title El Medina, and Cannes entries including 2004’s The Gate of Sun and 2012’s Competition entry After The Battle.
As a director, he made his debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988 with Summer Thefts at Directors Fortnight. Later on, he participated in many international festivals, toured the world, and received multiple awards. After that, he returned to Youssef Chahine’s team and worked as an executive director in Alexandria: Again and Forever in 1990 and co-wrote its script.
Nasrallah studied political and economic sciences at Cairo University, and then studied cinema at the Higher Institute of Cinema. He later moved to Beirut to work as a film critic for the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir for four years during the Lebanese civil war.
The Mayor of Paris awarded Nasrallah the Knight of the Order of Arts, one of the highest French honours.
Speaking about the recognition, Nasrallah said: “I’m glad to be granted the Golden Pyramid Honorary Award at CIFF. During these moments, I remember a lot of details in my life. I remember my starting point, as well as my current position. I didn’t do it alone. Many friends and Egyptian filmmakers helped me a lot. They supported me and worked with me. They helped me to reach my current position. I want to thank them a lot. They deserve to be honoured.”
