Salah Abu Seif (, ) (May 10, 1915 – June 23, 1996) was a prominent Egyptian

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. He is considered to be the godfather of Neorealist cinema in

Egyptian cinema The Egyptian film industry is today based mainly in Cairo, which is sometimes referred to as Hollywood on the Nile, Hollywood of the Middle East or Hollywood of the East, despite having its beginnings in the city of Alexandria in the early 20t ...

. Many of the 41 films he directed are considered Egyptian classics; eight of them rank in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s list of 100 Greatest Egyptian Films, the most of any director. Another 1997 Top 100 ranking by Egyptian film critics lists eleven of Abu Seif's films, right behind

Youssef Chahine Youssef Chahine ( ; 25 January 1926 – 27 July 2008) was an Egyptian film director. He was active in the Egyptian film industry from 1950 until his death. He directed twelve films included in a list of Top 100 Egyptian films published by ...

with twelve films. His film '' The Beginning and the End'' (1960) was the first adaptation of a novel by

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

winner

Naguib Mahfouz Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha (, ; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. In awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy described him as a writer "who, through wo ...

. In 1977 he was a member of the jury at the

10th Moscow International Film Festival The 10th Moscow International Film Festival was held 7–21 July 1977. The Golden Prizes were awarded to the Hungarian film ''The Fifth Seal'' directed by Zoltán Fábri, the Spanish film '' El puente'' directed by Juan Antonio Bardem and the Sov ...

Early life

Abu-Seif was born in 1915, in Cairo's ancient quarter of Boolaq, to landowning parents from Upper Egypt. He was 12 years old when he saw the first full- length feature film made by an Egyptian, in 1927, at a local movie-house - earlier films were imports accompanied by Egyptian narrations, or made by Europeans living in Egypt. As the son of a conservative family, Abu-Seif graduated from the Cairo College of Commerce and Economics in 1932, while at the same time working as a freelance reporter following movie stars. But it was at his day job as a clerk in a factory that he met the Egyptian film-maker Niazy Mustapha, who was on a shoot there. Mustapha made him a film editor. In 1939, Abu-Seif won a scholarship to study film in Paris. Within five years of his return in 1942, he had established himself as one of the most avant-garde second generation film-makers in the country. He pioneered shooting on location - though he also used reconstructions - in places none of his predecessors had dared to visit, like ghurza (the equivalent of old Chinese opium dens), brothels and impoverished areas whose existence had never been officially acknowledged.

Career

Abu Seif began his career as a film editor before making his feature directorial debut with the film ''Always in my Heart'' in 1946. Many of his films had political implications. ''The Case '68'' and ''

Malatily Bathhouse ''Malaṯily Bathhouse'' ( "Ĥamam al-Malaṯily") is a 1973 Egyptian film directed by Salah Abu Seif. It stars Shams al-Baroudi and Yusuf Shåban. The film is adapted from a novel by Ismåeel Walieddin. Samar Habib, author of ''Female Homose ...

'' were influenced by the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

. Both films dealt with the changing social climate of post-war Egypt. They experienced troubled production and release history, including protests against their release by the

Arab Socialist Union The Arab Socialist Union may refer to: *Arab Socialist Union (Egypt), active 1962–78 *Arab Socialist Union (Iraq), active 1964–68 *Arab Socialist Union (Libya), active 1971−77 *Arab Socialist Union Party (Syria), founded in 1973 *Democratic ...

Style

His style was initially influenced by the works of Egyptian director Kamal Selim. Abu Seif first encountered neorealism on a trip to Rome, and adopted techniques used by Italian filmmakers, such as dubbing over dialogue to ensure the quality of the audio. He employed several distinct techniques in his films, such as the use of popular music, realistic characters and storylines, and location shooting. When locations were not available to him for filming, he reconstructed sets with great detail to render them as accurate as possible to their real world counterparts. Abu Seif’s preference for realistic stories and settings allowed him to form a close relationship with his audience, who would have seen themselves represented in his films. He was described as “the artist of the Egyptian people” due to the reflective and observational nature of his work.

Filmography

References

External links