Background

The 1940s, 1950s and the 1960s are generally considered the golden age of Egyptian cinema. As in the West, films responded to the popular imagination, with most falling into predictable genres (happy endings being the norm), and many actors making careers out of playing strongly typed parts. In the words of one critic, Samir Farid, "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." 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, battle to hold audiences either drawn to Western films or, increasingly, wary of the perceived immorality of film.

إيرادات السينما المصرية [Egypt Box Office]

Cinema of Egypt - SlideShare

10 Things You Didn't Know About Egyptian Cinema - The Culture Trip

Intoruction to Egyptian CInema

Egyptfilm.png

100 years of Egyptian Cinema, a timeline

The earliest projections using a “Lumière” cinematograph in Egypt took place on the 15 November 1896, at the Toussoun Exchange in Alexandria [s.a. Omar Toussoun] then in Cairo on 28th November, that is, less than one year after the first projection in Paris, on 28 December 1895. Egypt’s first “Lumière cinematograph” cinema opened its doors in Alexandria in 1897. By 1926 (and the end of the silent cinema era) 86 cinemas were operating in Egypt.

Key dates:
• 1911: adoption of the first law on cinema in Egypt;
• 1923: publication of the first periodical review on film (“Animated Images”, Mohamed Tawfik was the owner and Editor in chief);
• 1924: publication of the first book on film “The Dawn of Cinema”, written by the director and researcher Mahmoud Khalil Rachid (1894-1980);
• 1925: creation of the very first large production company, the Misr Corporation for dramatic arts and film. It belonged to the Misr Bank, which had been founded in the wake of the 1919 revolution by Talaat Harb (1867-1941). In 1935, the Misr Corporation for dramatic arts and film inaugurated the first full film studio modelled on Hollywood studios. The Misr Studio was the largest cinematographic studio in Egypt, the Arab world, Africa and the Middle East, and it remains so today, although it was sorely tried after its nationalization by the central bureaucratic administration.

The Rebirth of the Seventh Art in Alexandria

Birth of the Seventh Art in Alexandria promotional still

AlexCinema - Bibliotheca Alexandrina "Alex Cinema retraced the birth and development of the “seventh art” in Alexandria beginning with the inauguration of the Lumière Brothers’ Cinematograph in 1897 and the work of the earliest Alexandrian cinematographers. The project documented the establishment of a dynamic cinematographic industry nurtured by the city’s cosmopolitan atmosphere of innovation and entrepreneurship. "

*The History of Egyptian Cinema - RISING STARS

*Introduction to Egyptian Cinema  (BY SAMIR FARID)

*Egyptian Filmmaker Gives Context to the 2011 Revolution (Public Radio International (PRI))

*New Generation Of Egyptian Filmmakers Challenging Mainstream Film Industry Post-Revolution / By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act July 3, 2013.

*Egyptian Films and Their Makers  (Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May/June 1996, pgs. 14, 54, 55)

*War reporter-turned movie maker turns camera on Egyptian slums

*Egypt filmmakers suffer from censorship, bureaucracy

*Egyptian film directors 

*Egyptian State Feminism on the Silver Screen?  Depicition of the New Woman in Egyptian Films of the Nasser Era (1954-1967) by Maro Youssef

*Egyptian women film directors

*Mid-Century Cairene Movie Posters, Urban Space, and Resistance to the West /  Kerr Houston

*Egyptian State Feminism on the Silver Screen: The Depiction of the “New Women” in Nasserist Films (1954-1967)

Suggested Readings

EGYPTIAN STATE FEMINISM ON THE SILVER SCREEN: THE DEPICTION OF THE “NEW WOMAN” IN NASSERIST FILMS (1954-1967) / Maro Youssef

Mid-Century Cairene Movie Posters, Urban Space, and Resistance to the West / Kerr Houston In the decade after the revolution of 1952, Egyptian films often echoed the political ideals of the new regime—and the movie posters produced in conjunction with those films sometimes embodied officially articulated attitudes toward Western influence and Egyptian history. 

The Changing Portrayal of Dancers in Egyptian Films

Arabic Film: Presenting Diverse Dialects, Regions, and Cultures in the

'Made in Egypt?' Egyptian films seen as knock-offs of Western

Screening Egypt: Reconciling Egyptian Film's Place in "World Cinema" Omar Kholeif, Royal College of Art and FACT, Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, UK -- IN: Scope: An Online Journal of Film and Television Studies Issue 19 February 2011

Plight of Women in Egyptian Cinema - White Rose Etheses Online

Omar Sharif Speaks - Guernica

Salah Abu Seif and Arab Neorealism / OUISSAL MEJRI Journal Title: Wide Screen. Vol. 3, No.1, June 2011. ISSN: 1757-3920. Published by Subaltern Media, 153 Sandringham Drive, Leeds LS17 8DQ, UK.

Analysis for Selected Comedy Films in Egyptian Cinema - EMU I-REP

10 Things You Didn't Know About Egyptian Cinema - The Culture Trip

Egypt filmmakers suffer from censorship, bureaucracy - Al-Monitor

Legally or illegally? How to make a film in Egypt | Mada Masr

Egypt: New film censorship law drafted « Artsfreedom

Egypt's Independent Cinema: Government neglects award-winning

Egypt: Cinema and Revolution - Michigan State University

Kissing in Egypt: A Criminalized Taboo | Egyptian Streets

Censoring Movies in Egypt | Alexandra Kinias

Interview with SHERIF MANDOUR, on cinema in Revolutionary Egypt

Media Laws in Egypt

Streaming. Egypt

Watch free Egyptian Movies & TV Series online English subtitlesImage result for Streaming services

Arabic Movies Online Egyptian Castle

Most Popular Titles With Country of Origin Egypt

SotwesooraHD Watch Egyptian Arabic Movies in HQ online “Now you can Enjoy the absolute best quality Egyptian and Arabic movies Available on the Internet!! The Fastest Streaming regardless of your connection speed!”

Watch Egyptian Movies & Films Online “Watch Egyptian films & movies online, or stream on your TV via Roku…”

 Fandor - Egyptian movies

موقع السينما العربية و المصرية : أكبر قاعدة بيانات الأفلام والمسلسلات Largest Movies Database 

.Kanopy [EGYPT] Home  thousands of classic feature films, educational shorts and documentaries [·Cornell University on Kanopy platform which you can access with your Cornell login: If a title doesn’t show up in a search  let me know and we’ll contact Kanopy and ask them to acquire it [from the library's online catalog].

.Alexander Street Press  [EGYPT] have deals on their packages, which the library has bought, but do sell individual titles now as well .

Biographical Sources

Bibliography/Videography

*Egyptian Culture on FilmParadigms of Culture Change at Disparate Time Periods / Author: Kamal AlEkhnawy.   Publisher: Sefsafa Publishing House

"This book tackles and spans, through film, a wide spectrum of social mobility and paradigms of culture change in Egypt over time as depicted in films form the 1940s to the present time to meet and serve unity in diversity, mutual understanding, and critical thinking.

 

*Waqāʾiʻ al-sīnimā al-Miṣrīyah fī al-qarn al-ʻishrīn / Abou Shadi, Aly. Dimashq : Wizārat al-Thaqāfah fī al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah al-Sūrīyah, 2004.

Olin Library PN1993.5.E3 A26 2004

 

فاتن حمامة وهي طفلة، من تاريخ إنتاج فيلم «يوم سعيد» مع الموسيقار محمد عبد الوهاب

| سينما «فاتن حمامة» تواجه مصير الهدم

 

Cinema Journals & Periodicals

كاميرا = مجلة كاميرا Camera. Majallat kāmīrā. [Cairo, Egypt] : [publisher not identified], 2015- [location: uris Oversize TR845 .K36]

Front CoverCinema press in Egypt : the first half of the 20th century = صحافة السينما فى مصر : النصف الاول من القرن العشرين / by: Farīdah Marʻī, Madkūr Thābit & group of researchers. Ministry of Culture; Egyptian Film Center [بالعربية والانكليزية] 376, 112 p. :  facsims. [location:  olin PN4784.M6 S54 1996]  [GoogleBks]

عالم السينما = Film realm.  [2006]   /-------------القاهرة :   جمعية نقاد السينما المصريين، 

Ciné-images. Alexanderie [Egypt]:  Maison d'Edition Al-Hilal, [1920s-] Weekly (Free).

دليل السينما. Dalīl al-sīnimā. [al-Qāhirah] al-Markaz al-Fannī lil-Ṣuwar al-Marʼīyah. Annual. Issued by: Markaz al-Fannī lil-Ṣuwar al-Marʼīyah, 1970- ; Markaz al-Thaqāfah al-Sīnimāʼīyah, <1988/1990-1991/1993>

الفيلم. مجلة الفيلم Majallat al-fīlmIrregular.  al-Qāhirah : Jamʻīyat al-Nahḍah al-ʻIlmīyah wa-al-Thaqāfīyah, Nādī Sīnimā al-Jizwīt, 2014- 

  مجلة الفيلم متوفرة في مقر جمعية النهضة العلمية والثقافية جيزويت القاهرة

[Location: olin Oversize PN1993.F414 (No.1 --)]

فرجة : ǂ شهرية سينمائية. Furjah :  shahrīyah sīnimāʼīyah. [Cairo, Egypt] : al-Sharikah al-Ahlīyah lil-Ṣiḥāfah wa-al-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr, 2016- [Location: olin Oversize PN1993.5.E3 F87 + (No.1 --)]

Iḥṣāʼ tawzīʻ al-aflām al-sīnimāʼīyah bi-al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah al-Muttaḥidah / al-Jihāz al-Markazī lil-Taʻbiʼah al-ʻĀmmah wa-al-Iḥṣāʼ. [al-Qāhirah] :  al-Jihāz [1960s].  Motion pictures Distribution & Statistics.

الاستوديوا. al-Istūdiyū. [al-Qāhirah :  Dār al-Jayb] Weekly. Began in 1947.

كواكب السينما.  Kawākib al-sīnimā - al-ʻAdad 1 (Sibtambir 22, 1934);

المسرح والسينما. al-Masraḥ wa-al-sīnimā. [al-Qāhirah],  al-Muʼassasah al-Miṣrīyah al-ʻĀmmah lil-Taʼlīf wa-al-Nashr. al-sanah 5 (al-ʻadad 49-58); Yūniyū 1968-Dīsimbir 1968. Represents a temporary merger of al-Masraḥ and the first eight nos. of al-Sīnimā, which appeared independently with no. 9, Aug. 1969.

نظرة Nazra. al-Qāhirah : Simāt lil-Intāj wa-al-Tawzīʻ,  [2002]-  Irregular [Independent filmmakers]

al-Sīnamā  Monthly. Publications for Aug.-Oct. 1969 issued by al-Muʼassasah al-Miṣrīyah al-ʼĀmmah lil-Taʼlīf wa-al-Nashr; Nov. 1969-Oct./Nov. 1970 by the body under its later name: al-Hayʼah al-Miṣrīyah al-ʻĀmmah lil-Taʼlīf wa-al-Nashr.

Sīnī-film. Ciné film (1950) Arabic and French. "Majallah khāṣṣah bi-shuʼūn al-sīnimā fī al-Sharq."

السينما الجديدة : ǂ كتاب غير دورى تصدره جمعية نقاد السينما المصريين. al-Sīnimā al-jadīdah New cinema. al-Qāhirah :  Jamʻīyat Nuqqād al-Sīnimā al-Miṣrīyīn, [2002]- Chiefly in Arabic; some English.

السينما المصرية في موسم. al-Sīnimā al-Miṣrīyah fī mawsim. كتاب 1-] -1967/68 Annual.  Editor: 1967/68, ʻAbd al-Munʻim Saʻd.

al-Sīnimā al-Miṣrīyah =  Le cinéma égyptien = Egyptian films. [Cairo, Egypt?] : al-Muʼassasah al-Miṣrīyah al-ʻĀmmah lil-Sīnimā wa-al-Idhāʻah wa-al-Tilīfizyūn, al-Sharikah al-ʻĀmmah li-Tawzīʻ wa-ʻArḍ al-Aflām al-Sīnimāʼīyah, 1963- Arabic, English, French, and Spanish.

al-Sīnimā wa-al-nās = el Cinema wal nas. [al-Qāhirah],  [al-Jamʻīyah al-Miṣrīyah li-Fann al-Sīnimā] al-sanah 1.- Yanāyir 1979-

السينما والتاريخ. al-Sīnimā wa-al-tārīkh. Cinema & history.  al-Qāhirah : Samīr Farīd,  1992- Quarterly.

الصور المتحركة الاسبوعيةal-Ṣuwar al-mutaḥarrikah al-usbūʻīyah. Movies weekly. "The first cinematographical review in Egypt." Cairo : ǂb M.M. Tewfic,  1923-1925.

ابيض واسود (Cairo, Egypt) Abyaḍ wa-aswad (Cairo, Egypt) : Wizārat al-Thaqāfah, al-Hayʼah al-ʻĀmmah li-Quṣūr al-Thaqāfah, [2008]-

al-Fann al-sābiʻ =  Al fan al sabea. (Cairo, Egypt) Monthly.

الفن. al-Fann. al-Iskandarīyah :  Dār al-Ḥayāh al-Miṣrīyah,  [1986]-

 سينما-  al-Sinīmā. al-Qāhirah : al-Muʼassasah al-Miṣrīyah lil-Taʼlīf wa-al-Nashr,  1969-

Cinema & Film Review & Critique

Film Posters

Twentieth-century Egypt in film posters – in picturesA hoard of hand-drawn cinema art, collected in a new book, charts the cultural shifts of the country. www.theguardian.com