Cinema of Egypt


The cinema of Egypt refers to the flourishing film industry based in Cairo which is know to be the Hollywood of the MENA region. Since 1976, the capital has held the annual Cairo International Film Festival, which has been accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations. There is also another festival held in Alexandria. Of the more than 4,000 short and feature-length films made in MENA region since 1908, more than three-quarters were Egyptian films. Egyptian films are typically spoken in the Arabic language, especially the Egyptian Arabic dialect.

History

Beginnings

A limited number of silent films were made in Egypt beginning in 1896; 1927's Laila was notable as the first full-length feature. Cairo's film industry became a regional force with the coming of sound. Between 1930 and 1936, various small studios produced at least 44 feature films. In 1936, Studio Misr, financed by industrialist Talaat Harb, emerged as the leading Egyptian equivalent to Hollywood's major studios, a role the company retained for three decades.
Historians disagree in determining the beginning of cinema in Egypt. Some say in 1896, when the first film was watched in Egypt, while others date the beginning from 20 June 1907 with a short documentary film about the visit of Khedive Abbas Hilmi II to the Institute of Mursi Abul-Abbas in Alexandria. In 1917, the director Mohammed Karim established a production company in Alexandria. The company produced two films: Dead Flowers and Honor the Bedouin, which were shown in the city of Alexandria in early 1918.
Since then, more than 4,000 films have been produced in Egypt, three quarters of the total Arab production. Egypt is the most productive country in the Middle East in the field of film production, and the one with the most developed media system.

The Golden Age

The 1940s, 1950s and the 1960s are generally considered the golden age of Egyptian cinema. In the 1950s, Egypt's cinema industry was the world's third largest. As in the West, films responded to the popular imagination, with most falling into predictable genres, and many actors making careers out of playing strongly typed parts. In the words of one critic, "If an Egyptian film intended for popular audiences lacked any of these prerequisites, it constituted a betrayal of the unwritten contract with the spectator, the results of which would manifest themselves in the box office."
In 1940, the entrepreneur and translator Anis Ebeid established "Anis Ebeid Films", as the first subtitling company in Egypt and the Middle East, bringing hundreds of American and World movies to Egypt. Later he entered the movie distribution business too.
Political changes in Egypt after the overthrow of King Farouk in 1952 initially had little effect on Egyptian film. The Nasser regime sought control over the industry only after turning to socialism in 1961. By 1966, the Egyptian film industry had been nationalized. As with all matters in that period, diametrical opinions can be found about the cinema industry then. In the words of Ahmed Ramzi, a leading man of the era, "it went to the dogs". The "heavy government hand" that accompanied nationalization of Egyptian film "stifled innovative trends and sapped its dynamism". However, considering a rather modern moderate review like that given by Dubai International Film Festival, Most of the 44 Egyptian films featuring in the best 100 Arab films of all time were produced during that period. Notable titles included The Night of Counting The Years, Cairo Station and The Postman.
By the 1970s, Egyptian films struck a balance between politics and entertainment. Films such as 1972's Khalli Balak min Zouzou , starring "the Cinderella of Arab cinema", Suad Husni, sought to balance politics and audience appeal. Zouzou integrated music, dance, and contemporary fashions into a story that balanced campus ferment with family melodrama.
Hassan Ramzi's 1975 Egyptian film Al-Rida’ al-Abyad was released in the Soviet Union in 1976, selling tickets in the country. This made it the highest-grossing foreign film of the year and the seventh highest-grossing foreign film ever in the Soviet Union. This also made it the highest-grossing Egyptian film of all time, with its Soviet ticket sales surpassing the worldwide ticket sales of all other Egyptian films.

Transitional period

The late 1970s and 1980s saw the Egyptian film industry in decline, with the rise of what came to be called "contractor movies". Actor Khaled El Sawy has described these as films "where there is no story, no acting and no production quality of any kind... basic formula movies that aimed at making a quick buck." The number of films produced also declined, from nearly 100 movies a year in the industry's prime to about a dozen in 1995. This lasted until summer 1997, when "Ismailia Rayeh Gayy" shocked the cinema industry, enjoying unparalleled success and large profits for the producers, introducing Mohamed Fouad and Mohamed Henedi, then a rather unknown actor who later became the number one comedian star. Building on the success of that movie, several comedy films were released in the following years.

Present

Since the 1990s, Egypt's cinema has gone in separate directions. Smaller art films attract some international attention but sparse attendance at home. Popular films, often broad comedies such as What A Lie!, and the extremely profitable works of comedian Mohamed Saad, battle to hold audiences either drawn to Western films or, increasingly, wary of the perceived immorality of film.
A few productions, such as 2003's Sahar el Layali, intertwined stories of four bourgeois couples and 2006's Imarat Yacoubian bridge this divide through their combination of high artistic quality and popular appeal.
In 2006, the film Awkat Faragh was released. A social commentary on the decline of Egyptian youth, the film was produced on a low budget and had attendant low production values. The film, however, became a success. Its controversial subject matter, namely, the sexual undertones in today's society, was seen as confirmation that the industry was beginning to take risks.
A major challenge facing Egyptian and international scholars, students and fans of Egyptian film is the lack of resources in terms of published works, preserved and available copies of the films themselves, and development in Egypt of state and private institutions dedicated to the study and preservation of film. The Egyptian National Film Centre, which theoretically holds copies of all films made after 1961, is according to one Egyptian film researcher, "far from being a library, houses piles of rusty cans containing positive copies."
The year 2007, however, saw a considerable spike in the number of Egyptian films made. In 1997, the number of Egyptian feature-length films created was 16; 10 years later, that number had risen to 40. Box office records have also risen significantly, as Egyptian films earned around $50 million while American films, by comparison, earned $10 million.

Festivals

Since 1976, Cairo has held the annual Cairo International Film Festival, which has been accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations. Another festival is held in Alexandria.

Notable films

TitleTransliterationYearDirector
My Father above the TreeAbi foq al-Shagara1969Hussein Kamal
The Asphalt boogymenAfarit el-asphalt1996Oussama Fawzi
Ali Baba and The Forty ThievesAli Baba wa Al Arbaeen harami1942Togo Mizrahi
I Am FreeAna Horra1959Salah Abu Seif
Date WineArak el-balah1998Radwan El-Kashef
The Land Of FearArd El-Khof1999Daoud Abdel Sayed
Al-Go'aAl-Go'a1986Ali Badrakhan
The LandEl Ard1969Youssef Chahine
The SparrowAl Asfour1972Youssef Chahine
The Return of the Prodigal SonAwdat al ibn al dal1976Youssef Chahine
Sons of EgyptAwlad Masr1933Togo Mizrahi
The Days of SadatAyam El-Sadat2001Mohamed Khan
The Soft HandsAl Ayde Al Na'ema1963Mahmoud Zulfikar
The WillEl Azima1939Kamal Selim
The Gate of SunBab el shams2004Yousry Nasrallah
Cairo StationBab El-Hadid1958Youssef Chahine
I Love CinemaBaheb el cima2004Oussama Fawzi
The Search for Sayed MarzoukAl Bahths an Al Sayyid Marzuq1990Daoud Abdel Sayed
The InnocentEl Baree'1988Atef El-Tayeb
Barsoum Looking for a JobBarsoum Yabhas Aen Wazifa1923Mohamed Bayoumi
A Beginning and an EndBidaya wa Nihaya1960Salah Abu Seif
The PostmanAl Boustaguy1968Hussein Kamal
The Path of MahabilDarb al-mahabil1955Tawfik Saleh
The Nightingale’s prayerDoaa al-Karawan1959Henry Barakat
Traffic LightEisharit morour1995Khairy Beshara
In the Land of TutankhamunFi bilad Tout Ankh Amoun1923Mohamed Bayoumi
The Paradise of the Fallen AngelsGannat al shayateen1999Oussama Fawzi
The IslandEl Geezera2007Sherif Arafa
The Flirtation of GirlsGhazal Al Banat1949Anwar Wagdi
The SinAl Haram1965Henry Barakat
Chafika et MetwalShafika w Metwally1978Ali Badrakhan
Hassan and MarcusHassan wi Mor'os2008Ramy Emam
Life or DeathHaya aw Maut1954Kamal El Sheikh
The ChoiceAl Ikhtiyar1970Youssef Chahine
Terrorism and KebabAl Irhab wal kabab1992Sherif Arafa
Alexandria... Why?Iskanderija... lih?1978Youssef Chahine
KarnakAl Karnak1975Ali Badrakhan
The Kit KatEl Kit Kat1991Daoud Abdel Sayed
The Lady's PuppetLaabet el sitt1946Waley-ElDin Sameh
Leila1927Aziza Amir
Angel of MercyMalak al-Rahma1946Youssef Wahbi
The CityEl Medina1999Yousry Nasrallah
The Night of Counting the YearsAl Mummia1975Shadi Abdel Salam
The ImpossibleEl Mustahil1966Hussein Kamal
Saladin The VictoriousEl Nasser Salah El-Din1963Youssef Chahine
Yaaqubian buildingOmaret yakobean2006Marwan Hamed
A Bullet in the HeartRossassa Fel Qalb1944Mohammed Karim
Return My Heart BackRudda Kalbi1958Ezz-El-Din Zulfikar
Salama is OkaySalama fi khair1938Niazi Mostafa
Salamah1945Togo Mizrahi
The Bus DriverSawaq El-Autobis1983Atef El-Tayeb
Some of the FearShey min el khouf1969Hussein Kamal
Struggle of the HeroesSira' Al Abtal1962Tawfik Saleh
Black MarketSuq al-Soda, Al1945Kamel El-Telmissany
Adrift on the NileTharthara Fawq Al Neel1971Hussein Kamal
The Collar and the BraceletEl Tooq wal Eswera1986Khairy Beshara
Adieu BonaparteWeda'an Bonapart1985Youssef Chahine
The Two OrphansAl Yateematain1949Hassan Al Imam
The Sixth DayAl Yawm al-Sadis1986Youssef Chahine
Happy DayYawm Saeed1940Mohammed Karim
Sweet Day, Bitter DayYom mor... Yom helw1988Khairy Beshara
The Wife of an Important ManZawgat Ragol Mohim1988Mohamed Khan
Zeinab1950Mohammed Karim
The Second WifeEl Zouga El Tania1967Salah Abu Seif
The White GownAl-Rida’ al-Abyad1975Hassan Ramzi
People on the TopAhl el qema1981Ali Badrakhan

Notable figures

Directors