Following a sudden health crisis, prominent director and writer Mohamed Khan passed away early on Tuesday at Al-Andalus hospital in Cairo. The funeral prayer took place on Tuesday, followed by the burial ceremony.
Khan was a leading figure of the 1980s realist wave of filmmaking in Egypt, marking a significant period in the history of cinema in the region. He spearheaded the wave along with other directors, with the aim of capturing the everyday life of ordinary Egyptians on the silver screen.
His filmography includes more than 20 feature films.
Khan was born to a Pakistani father and an Egyptian Mother in 1942 in Cairo. He struggled to prove his Egyptian nationality for 71 years, until he was granted citizenship in 2014, during the term of interim president Adly Mansour.
Although he studied cinema at the London International Film School, he returned to Egypt to document the political, social, and cultural changes in Egyptian society. He has always been considered one of the pioneers of the neorealist cinema school in Egypt.
Khan directed 24 movies that expressed the pains, hopes, struggles, and dreams of Egyptians, including: Darbet Shams (Sun stroke) in 1978, Zawget Ragol Mohem (The wife of an important man) in 1988, Maw’ed Ala Al-Ashaa (A date for dinner) in 1982, Ayam Al-Sadat (The Sadat days) in 2001, Sheqet Masr Al-Gadida (The Heliopolis flat) in 2007, and Abl Zahmet Al-Seif (Before the summer crowds) in 2016.
With his analytical eye, Khan channeled his audience’s attention to the problems and challenges that encounter women in Egyptian society, and discussed the restrictions imposed on them in more than one movie.
He was also known as one of the few filmmakers who gave a voice to female characters, mirroring societal and political changes in Egypt.
His outstanding movie, Fatat Al-Masnaa (The factory girl), released in 2014, tackled the injustices Egyptian women face, and how the society blames girls for their every mistake.
