Master Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Khan dies at 73

Prominent Egyptian director Mohamed Khan, whose final movie Before the Summer Crowds premièred at last December's Dubai International Film Festival, has died today in a Cairo hospital following an unspecified sudden illness. His family have so far made no further comment.

A British national, son to an Egyptian-Italian mother and a Pakistani father, Khan was born in Cairo in 1942 and had been one of Egyptian cinema's leading lights since the 1980s. He found fame with movies such as El Harreef (The Street Player, 1984), Zawgat Ragol Mohem (The Wife of an Important Man, 1987) and Ahlam Hind wa Camilia (Dreams of Hind and Camilia, 1988).

The director made a career of films covering social issues featuring female central characters. He was included in Dubai International Film Festival's 2013 book of the 100 most influential Arab film makers. Khan's global hit Factory Girl won two awards at that year's festival.

Khan is survived by his wife Wessam Souleiman, who wrote the screenplay for several of his films including Factory Girl, and his daughter Nadine Khan, who is also a film director. Her feature debut Chaos, Disorder won the Special Jury Prize at the Dubai International Film Festival in 2012.

Despite being credited for his influential role in the Egyptian film industry, Khan was only granted Egyptian citizenship in 2014. Egyptian women who are married to foreigners were not allowed to pass on their citizenship to their children before a 2004 amendment to the country’s nationality law.

cnewbould@thenational.ae