Maggie Anwer () is an Egyptian-Italian director, producer, and writer. She is the founder of ''Faten Hamama Film Festival'' and is best known for directing several documentary films that reflect the career of many artists such as ''Al Fatenah'' a film about the late
Faten Hamama
Faten Ahmed Hamama (, ; 27 May 1931 – 17 January 2015) was an Egyptian film and television actress and film producer. She made her screen debut in 1939, when she was only seven years old. Her earliest roles were minor, but her activity an ...
.
Biography
Education
Anwer graduated from the Faculty of Mass Communication, Radio and Television Department. She started her career at the age of sixteen when she participated in writing articles about English movies on the extranet pages of youth newspapers and film websites. In addition, she received a degree from Harvard University for William Shakespeare's Merchant Of Venice. In 2008, after her graduation, she participated in preparing television programs including
Ashraf Abdel Baqi's Darak.
Career
In 2015, she founded, in cooperation with the late artist Faten Hamama, ''the Faten Hamama Film Festival'', which is currently held in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. The festival includes three categories including feature films, short films, and drawings. In 2013, Anwer held a workshop to teach ladies how to make a film in Saudi Arabia as well as she participated in directing the play of ''Mali Sewak'' which is the first women’s play for Rwaq Almadina in Saudi Arabia.
Anwer participates as a jury in several international film festivals, she is the first director that participated as a jury in four European film festivals such as the ''London Film Festival, the Nice International Film Festival'' in France in 2019, and the ''Madrid International Film Festival'' at its eighth session in 2020.
Works
During her career, she made documentary films that explored the career of several celebrities. In 2015, She made ''Al Fatenah'', a film about the late
Faten Hamama
Faten Ahmed Hamama (, ; 27 May 1931 – 17 January 2015) was an Egyptian film and television actress and film producer. She made her screen debut in 1939, when she was only seven years old. Her earliest roles were minor, but her activity an ...
, the film shows the last message of Faten Hamama to the audience before her death. She also made ''Al Muntamy'', a film about the Syrian comedian and director
Duraid Lahham
Duraid Lahham (; in Roman transliteration, sometimes spelled "Durayd Lahham") is a leading Syrian comedian and director born 1934 in Damascus, Syria to a Syrian father and a Lebanese mother. He is famous for acting the role of "Ghawwar El Tosh ...
, the film explores the art events in his life. In 2016, she directed ''Al Gamil'', a 28-minute film about the career of the late Egyptian actor
Gamil Ratib
Gamil Abu Bakr Ratib (; 18 August 1926 – 19 September 2018) was an Egyptian actor. He appeared in television and film productions and briefly in theater over a 65-year career. He was known for numerous villainous roles and his appearance in the ...
. In the same year, she directed the ''Abu Simbel film'', she made it in Egypt and Italy which helped in saving
Abu Simbel temples
Abu Simbel is a historic site comprising two massive rock-cut temples in the village of Abu Simbel (), Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt, near the border with Sudan. It is located on the western bank of Lake Nasser, about southwest of Aswan ...
. Anwer wrote and directed ''The Distributor,'' a film that explores the distribution of the foreign films of
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
and Fox during fifty years in Egypt, and explores the life of ''Antwan Zend'', the film distributor and she was a co-producer with the Egyptian actor
Hisham Selim. In the same year, she wrote and produced ''Barcodia'' starring
Shadi Al Dali, the film is about a virtual world with a device that reveals the facts in front of everyone and mainly used to choose the life partner. In 2019, she asked the Egyptian artist Farida Fahmy, the wife of the late director and founder of Reda Troupe ''
Ali Reda'', to help her to provide the film footage for her short documentary film that explores the life of the director Ali Reda.
Filmography
* Al Fatenah
* Al Muntamy
* Al Gamil
* Abu Simbel
* The Distributor
* Barcodia
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anwer, Maggie
Living people
Egyptian people of Italian descent
Egyptian film directors
Egyptian women film directors
Year of birth missing (living people)