Youssef Chahine, 82, the famous Egyptian director died Sunday in Cairo. According to The Associated Press, the director, who won a lifetime achievement award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997, suffered a brain hemorrhage that put him into a coma for about four weeks. Youssef Chahine was taken to France in a critical condition in order to receive treatment, but he was sent back to Al Maadi Military Hospital in Cairo on July 17, where he died Sunday. A spokesman for the hospital said that Chahine died Sunday morning.

The Egyptian film director, who was known for exploring politics, sexuality and family life, died in Cairo. French President Nicolas Sarkozy released a statement in which he acknowledged Chahine’s merits in cinema, calling him one of cinema's “most celebrated servants” and “a fervent defender of freedom of expression.”

“Youssef Chahine sought throughout his life to denounce, through images, censure, fanaticism and fundamentalism,” Sarkozy said, according to The Associated Press.

Chahine’s work was mostly known in Europe and France, making people appreciate him because of his frank descriptions of sexuality and his criticism of political oppression. He was not afraid of speaking his mind and expressing his beliefs.

In 1994, his film “The Emigrant” was banned because it was based on the story of Joseph, found in the Bible and Quran.

Youssef Chahine was born on January 25, 1926 in Alexandria, Egypt. He was the son of a Lebanese father and a Greek mother. In his 50 films he made during his 55-year career, Chahine tried to express his beliefs on multicultural tolerance, showing that fundamentalism, dictatorship and imperialism were undermining it.

Some of his films include: Heya fawda aka Chaos, Alexandrie... New York, Skoot hansawwar (Silence), Ikhtiyar, al- aka The Choice, Shaytan al-Sahra (Desert Devil) and many more.

The Egyptian director is survived by his French wife Colette.