Youssef Chahine

Cairo Station

Cairo Station

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.

Film Info

  • Egypt
  • 1958
  • 76 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.37:1
  • Arabic
  • Spine #1273

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • 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 Chahine’s appearance at the 1998 Midnight Sun Film Festival
  • New English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: An essay by Fahim

    New cover by Mariam El-Reweny

Purchase Options

Coming soon, available Aug 12, 2025

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • 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 Chahine’s appearance at the 1998 Midnight Sun Film Festival
  • New English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: An essay by Fahim

    New cover by Mariam El-Reweny
Cairo Station
Cast
Youssef Chahine
Kenawi
Hind Rostom
Hanuma
Farid Shawki
Abu Serih
Hassan El Baroudi
Madbouli
Abdel Aziz Khalil
Abu Gaber
Safia Sarwat
Hallawatim
Credits
Director
Youssef Chahine
Screenplay by
Abdel Hay Adib
Dialogue
Mohamed Abu Youssef
Produced by
Gabriel Talhami
Cinematographer
Alvise Orfanelli
Editor
Kamul Abul Ela
Music by
Fouad El Zahiri