Cairo: Hit by more than three years of street instability and meagre productions, the Egyptian film industry, the Arab world’s oldest, pins hopes for recovery on widely acclaimed films that premiered at local theatres during last week’s Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.
For the first time since the 2011 uprising that forced long-time president Hosni Mubarak out of power, five Egyptian films hit the screen, most of them have proved crowd pullers.
Long lines of fans have been seen in the past week at Cairo cinema houses, in a scene unseen in Egypt since 2011.
“The election of a new president for the country (in May) and ensuing political stability have encouraged producers to agree to show their new movies,” film distributor Mohammad Ramzy said. “For the first time in recent seasons, we have a variety of movies starring big-name actors. Film-makers pin big hopes on this season to make up for their losses caused by political instability of the past three years,” he added. “Although five new films are not a big number, they are of good quality and can generate high revenues. They are competitive too.”
Leading in the film marathon are “The Blue Elephant” a psycho-thriller starring lead actors Kareem Abdul Aziz and Khaled Al Sawai; “Made in Egypt” a comedy featuring comic sensation Ahmad Helmi; and “The Third World War”, a fantasy inspired by the US film “Night at the Museum”.
In their first week of release, the three films raked in around 12 million Egyptian pounds (Dh 6.3 million), a big figure by Egyptian standards, according to market observers.
The other two releases are “A Governmental Marriage” a light comedy starring actress Yassmin Abdul Aziz; and “Antar and Bessa” a folksy musical featuring actor Mohammad Lutfi. folk singer Abdul Basset Hamouda and celebrated belly dancer Safinaz.
The Egyptian film industry used to be one of the country’s big earners in the 1950s and 1960s that marked its golden era.
“The Egyptian cinema is experiencing a revival, marked by the return of big-budget productions,” said film critic Nader Adli. “The season runs until mid-September (when school summer vacation ends). So I expect revenues to leap compared to this time in each of the past three years.”
To cope with the high turnout of cinema-goers, theatres in fashionable areas in the Egyptian capital have operated “super midnight” showings, which are held from past midnight until the early hours of the morning.
“This is the first time for me in recent years to go to the cinema,” said Omar Al Sayyed, an oil engineer, as he was waiting along with his fiancée at a Cairo theatre screening “The White Elephant”. “In the past seasons, superficial movies featuring belly dancers and folk singers were the only kind of films shown. This time, there are movies that satisfy all tastes.”
Al Sayyed said he had to use a service provided by a local mobile phone company to reserve one day in advance two tickets to watch “The White Elephant” based on a bestseller of the same name by Egyptian writer Ahmad Murad.
“The film has all success ingredients such as having a thrilling story, an excellent acting cast and a big budget,” he said. “This marks a real beginning for the return of serious films in the Egyptian cinema.”
