A director celebrated far beyond his native Egypt, Chahine came to international prominence with Bab El Hadid (1958). His films dealt frankly with issues in the Arab world, and include Djamilah (1958), El Naser Salah El Dine (1963), Al-Asfour (1972), Iskanderiya….Lih? (1978), Al-Mohager (1994) and Al-Massir (1997) among many others.