10 Feb 2021 665 0  

The Egyptian Cinema Is A Female Origin

Ancient Egyptian cinema that we stand in front of it with all the nostalgia and passion would not have come out to us without the great effort of the filmmakers , but even though the first thing we think of when we hear about the founders of Egyptian cinema is a bunch of men’s names that engraved in our minds , but the truth is Egyptian cinema would not have appeared without women’s effort to establish it.

Most of the founder’s names were women who worked in acting, directing, writing, and producing.
Some of them described as who was able to accomplish what men couldn’t, some considered to be dead by their families after deciding to start acting and some emigrated to Egypt to achieve a new history of the Egyptian cinema: 1-Aziza Amir ( 1901-1952) : “ The Mother Of Egyptian Cinema” She was the first Egyptian woman who worked in filmmaking , as she produced , directed and performed (Laila|) the first Egyptian film production and the first long silent film, it was about how a foreigner could affect an Egyptian’s life so negatively that his own life could be destroyed.
After the screening of (Laila), Talaat Pasha Harb attended and told her one of the most famous sentence in Egyptian cinema history “You were able to accomplish what men couldn’t”. Aziza kept working in cinema until the very last day of her life.

2-Bahiga Hafez (1908-1983) : The daughter of Ismail Pasha Hafez who considered her dead and set up a memorial service when she started working in cinema with (Zainab) film, the first Egyptian film based on a novel.
Bahiga the actress, director, producer, writer, designer, and the first women to produce soundtracks for films.
She lost all her money in the production of (Laila, the Daughter of the Desert) Egypt’s first historical saga , it was about the conflict between the Arab and the Persian people However ,it suspended shortly by order of King Faruq because it coincided with Princess Fauzia’s marriage with Shah Iran.
Despite her success and many friends around her, she was so lonely that she was discovered dead after two days from the death.

3-Fatma Rushdy (1908-1996) : she was discovered by Amin Atta and nominated her for a small role in a play that she earned the love of the audience with it, and the support of Saied Darweesh who took her in his band ,
then she continued her success until she joined Yusuf Bey Wahbe’s band at the Ramses Theater But that wasn’t enough to her and she set up her own band to be the first band with women’s name, She has worked in the theater for a long time and has produced many novels the most successful ones was Najeeb Mahfouz’s novels Fatma entered the filmmaking industry by acting and directing (El Zawag) film , Egypt’s first film directed by a women, and starred ( El Azeema ) one of 10 most important films in the Egyptian cinema history.
She produced and starred in 21 film and 200 plays , so she was nicknamed as “ the Sara Bernhardt of the East”.

4-Amina Mohammed(1908-1985): Amina Rizq’s aunt, they moved together from Tanta to Cairo to start their career.
Amina began her own career as a dancer at Lido de Paris and Folies Bergere in Paris. Amina the unique, brave and self-made women who borrowed 17pounds from her niece Amina Rezq to produce ( Tita Wong ) Egypt’s first independent film which was photographed on the roof and conquered China with it, all who worked on it were young amateurs artists, the funny thing about this film that among the amateur applications for the film was President Anwar Sadat who wrote to the company “ I’m skinny , sweaty and my features are perfect” but she didn’t accept him because he wasn’t suitable for the film’s main character appearance.

5-Assia Dagher( 1908-1986): She came from Lebanon to Cairo to write a new history of cinema , her first appear was in a minor role in (Laila) film and then she established her own production company ( Lotus Film) the longest-lived production company in Egypt , she made Egypt’s most famous and epic films like ( Rod Qalby) , ( Elnasser Salah Eldeen) , ( Yumyat na’eb fy Elaryaf). Assia Worked for over 40 consecutive years that she became Egypt’s most famous producer.

6-Mary Queeny (1916-2003): The founder of Egypt’s first color film studio She came to Egypt as a child with her aunt, Assia Dagher and was nominated by director Wadad Orfey to star ( Ghada Bent El-Sahraa) film that was directed by Ahmed Galal Mary and Ahmed fell in love and ended up getting married, two years after they founded ( Galal Studio ) the first studio to introduce color to Egyptian cinemas. And this is the story of the Egyptian’s filmmakers founders who had the courage , strength, and the determination to achieve one goal: a 100% Egyptian film.