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Egyptian producer, mentor, writer and director, Marianne Khoury, 63, has been honoured with the France’s highest prize, the Legion of Honour on Thursday. Khoury, whose blood-line is related to the great Egyptian director Youssef Chahine, has been a managing partner in Cairo-based Misr International Films, a prominent institution founded by Chahine who happens to be a maternal uncle to Khoury. Khoury had directed a number of documentaries including “Let’s Talk” that was premiered in the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam back in the 2019s and webbed a barrage of treasure trove of archived materials and intertwined them with cinematic conversations between four female characters belonging from different generations of Khoury’s family.
Speaking in a ceremony held on Wednesday evening at the French Embassy in Cairo while she was receiving the France’s highest honour, Khoury said, “I am extremely grateful to receive this distinction as it gives me the confidence and the courage to pursue my journey and continue to be myself”.
Khoury awarded France’s Legion of Honour
Apart from working closely with Chahine, who had been widely regarded as a limestone of Arab Cinemas, Khoury an Oxford scholar, had degrees in economics from Cairo University, too.
Although, Khoury had never been considered as a feminist, her works that included about 30 Arab films and documentaries, frequently centred around womanhood, marginalization, identity and memory. Among other achievements, the 63-year-old one of leading lights in Arab Cinemas, had founded the first art house cinema circuit in Egypt, “Zawya”.
During her early life as a filmmaker, Khoury established a close tie with French film community as well as some international circuits who shared her views. While going through a marvellous experience such as that, Khoury had long acted as a conduit between the film industry and artists of Egypt and France.