Salah Abu Seif
Born(1915-05-10)May 10, 1915
DiedJune 23, 1996(1996-06-23) (aged 81)
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter

Salah Abu Seif (Arabic: صلاح أبو سيف, Ṣalāḥ Abū Sayf) (May 10, 1915 June 23, 1996) was one of the most famous Egyptian film directors, and is considered to be the godfather of Neorealist cinema in Egyptian cinema. Many of the 41 films he directed are considered Egyptian classics with 11 films in the Top 100 Egyptian films list. His film The Beginning and the End (1960) was the first adaptation of a novel by Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz. In 1977 he was a member of the jury at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival.[1]

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.[2]

Filmography

Year Title Arabic Title Notes
1946Always in My HeartDayman fi Qalbi دايماً في قلبي
1947The AvengerAl-Muntaqim المنتقم
1948The Adventures of Antar and AblaMughamarat Antar wa Abla مغامرات عنتر وعبلة Nominated for "Grand Prize of the Festival" at the 1949 Cannes Film Festival
1948Street of the Acrobat Shariaal-Bahlawan شارع البهلوان
1950The FalconAl-Sakr الصقر
1950Love is a ProblemAl-Hob Bahdala الحب بهدلة
1951Your Day Will ComeLak Yawm Ya Zalem لك يوم يا ظالم
1952Foreman HassanAl-Osta Hassan الأسطى حسن
1953Raya and SekinaRaya wa Sekina ريا وسكينة
1954The MonsterAl-Wahsh الوحش Nominated for "Grand Prize of the Festival" at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival
1956A Woman's YouthShabab Emraa شباب إمرأة Nominated for "Golden Palm" at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival
1957The ToughAl-Fetewa الفتوة Nominated for "Golden Bear" at Berlin Film Festival
1957The Empty PillowAl-Wessada al-Khalia الوسادة الخالية
1957SleeplessLa Anam لا أنام
1958Criminal on HolidayMugrem fi Agaza مجرم في إجازة
1958The Barred RoadAl-Tarik al-Masdud الطريق المسدود
1958This is the LoveHaza Howa al-Hob هذا هو الحب
1959I Am FreeAna Horra أنا حرة
1959Between Heaven and EarthBayn al-Samaa wa al-Ard بين السماء والأرض
1960Agony of LoveLawet al-Hob لوعة الحب
1960The Girls and the SummerAl-Banat wa al-Saif البنات والصيف
1960The Beginning and an EndBidaya wa nihaya بداية ونهاية Nominated for "Grand Prix" at the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival[3]
1961The Sun Will Never SetLa Tutf'e al-Shams لا تطفىء الشمس
1962Letter from an Unknown WomanRessala Min Emraa Maghoula رسالة من إمرأة مجهولة
1963No Time for LoveLa Wakt lil Hob لا وقت للحب
1966Cairo 30Al-Qahira 30 القاهرة 30
1967The Second WifeAl-Zawga al-Thaniya الزوجة الثانية
1968Three WomenThalath Nisa ثلاث نساء
1969Case 68Al-Qadia 68 القضية 68
1969A Bit of SufferingShia min al Azab شيء من العذاب
1971Dawn of IslamFajr al-Islam فجر الإسلام
1973Malatily BathhouseHammam al-Malatily حمام الملاطيلي
1975The LiarAl-Kadab الكداب
1976First Year LoveSana Oula Hob سنة أولى حب
1977She Fell in the Honey SeaSakatat fi Bahr al-Asal سقطت في بحر العسل
1977The Water-Carrier Is DeadAl-Saqqa Mat السقا مات Won "Best Film of the Year" at Egyptian Film Association
1978The CriminalAl-Mugrem المجرم
1982The QadisiyaAl-Qadisiya القادسية Nominated for "Golden Prize" at the 12th Moscow International Film Festival[4]
1986The BeginningAl-Bidaya البداية
1991The Egyptian CitizenAl-Moaten Masry المواطن مصري Nominated for "Golden St. George" at the 17th Moscow International Film Festival[5]
1994Mr. KaafAl-Sayed Kaaf السيد كاف

See also

References

  1. "10th Moscow International Film Festival (1977)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2013-01-07.
  2. "Obituary: Salah Abu-Seif". The Independent. 1996-06-27. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
  3. "2nd Moscow International Film Festival (1961)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
  4. "12th Moscow International Film Festival (1981)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 2013-04-21. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
  5. "17th Moscow International Film Festival (1991)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 2014-04-03. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
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