1896
On Thursday, the 5th of November, people watched the first film screening, in Toussoun Money Exchange, in the city of Alexandria.
On Saturday, the 28th
of November, the first film screening in the capital, Cairo, took
place, at Hammam Schneider’s Hall. It was 15 motion pictures of
landscape, lasting for less than half an hour.
1897
The inauguration of the first cinema, Lumière Cinématographe, in Alexandria and then in Cairo
In
March 10, Monsieur Promio, envoy of Lumière Company in France, started
to shoot the first cinema tapes of some landscapes in Egypt. They were
53 tapes. The first of them was entitled Le Place des Consuls à Alexandrie. This date is considered to be the beginning of the Egyptian cinematography.
1906
The first talking projection in Egypt
The music disc was synchronizing with the tape of pictures, whether for some time or during the whole screening.
1908
The first foreign cinema newsreel to be projected in Egypt
It was entitled Le Journal Pathé and the screening was in Cinematographe Pathé in Alexandria.
1922
In November 16, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligar, a silent expressionistic German classic, was screened in Cinema American Cosmograph, in Alexandria.
1923
The real beginning of the Egyptian cinema was the screening of In the Land of Tutankhamun, the first Egyptian feature film, an 80-minute length about the discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamun.
Mohamed
Bayumi was the first Egyptian to stand behind a camera, as a producer,
writer, director and photographer, using equipment and laboratories he
purchased at his expense from Germany.
The short narrative (12 minutes) Barsoum Looking for a Job,
was screened. It was photographed, directed and produced by Mohamed
Bayumi and starring Bishara Wakim, Abdel Hamid Zaki, Mohamed Shafiq, and
child Mohamed Youssef. It was intended to be a feature film, but when
child Mohamed Youssef, son of Mohamed Bayumi, died, it was not
completed.
1925
Talaat
Harb, the great Egyptian economist and founder of the first Egyptian
bank, establishes a company for cinema industry. It was entitled Misr
Film, which later became Studio Misr.
1927
The first Egyptian Chamber of Cinema Industries is established, in Alexandria.
Leila
is screened, which used to be considered as the first Egyptian feature
film and the beginning of history of the Egyptian cinema – till the
discovery of In the Land of Tutankhamun, by Victor Rosito. Leila
was directed by Stefan Rosty (instead of Widad ‘Urfi who didn’t
complete it), written by Widad ‘Urfi, and produced by Aziza Amir,
starring Aziza Amir, Widad ‘Urfi, Stefan Rosty and Ahmed Galal.
1928
On December 20, The Jazz Singer, the first talking film in the world, was screened in Egypt, 14 months after its screening in New York.
1930
On April 9, Zeinab,
the first film adapted from an Arabic literary work, was shown. It was
written by writer and politician Mohamed Hussein Haikal Pasha and
directed and adapted for cinema by Mohamed Karim, starring Bahiga Hafez,
George Abiad and Sirag Munir. However, Mohamed Karim re-directed the
film again in 1952, starring Raqia Ibrahim and Yehia Shahin. It was produced by Nahas Films
1932
The first Egyptian talking feature film, Awlad El Zawat
(Children of the Aristocrats), was screened, directed by Mohamed Karim,
starring Youssef Wahbi, Sirag Munir, Collete D’Arville, Amina Rizk and
Dawlat Abiad. The talking part was around 40% of the film.
The first Egyptian talking musical film, Onshodat El Foad (The
Ode of the Heart), was screened, directed by Mario Volpi, starring
singer Nadra, composer Zakaria Ahmed and actor George Abiad.
1936
Widad,
the first film of Studio Misr, was screened, marking a new stage in the
history of film production in Egypt. It was directed by Fritz Kramp –
story & dialogue written by poet Ahmed Ramy, and script written by
Ahmed Badrakhan. It was the first cinema appearance of Egyptian singer
Umm Kulthum, one of the most important singers of the Middle East and
Arab countries, co-starring Ahmed Allam, Mukhtar Osman and Mahmoud El
Miligi.
In the same year was the first participation of an Egyptian film, Widad, in an international festival, Venice International Film Festival in Italy.
1938
In an unprecedented incident in Egypt, Lashin,
directed by Fritz Kramp, was confiscated and banned from public
screening on the same day it was approved to be shown, on March 17. It
was banned by censors because it has “insinuations related to the Royal
Highness and the regime”.
The
story of the film revolves about political corruption and economic
collapse and is ended by the will of the people realized in murdering
the ruler and appointing a popular leader from the public.
Studio
Misr had to make a different end in which the just sultan triumphs and
enjoys the love of his people following a conspiracy schemed against
him. The film was screened with the new end on November 14, 1938.
1939
On November 6, El Azima
(The Will), directed by Kamal Selim, was screened. It is one of the
most important classics of the Egyptian cinema. Its importance derives
from its being the first realistic film depicting daily life in poor
Egyptian alleys, through popular characters and models, addressing
unemployment, a problem devastated the Egyptian society in the late
thirties.
“Kamal
Selim was an admirer of the French poetic realism. Despite his adopting
some features of René Clair or Jean Renoir, he had an original style,
more like the Italian Neorealism,” wrote George Sadol.
1940
Anis Ebeid establishes the first laboratory for translating and subtitling films, in all languages.
1950
The first Egyptian film fully in color, Papa ‘Aris
(Dad is Groom), was screened – produced by Nahas Films and directed
by Hussein Fawzy, starring Na’ema ‘Akif and Kamal El Shinawy. It was in
the Raw Color technique.
1956
The first Egyptian film in color, Dalila,
in the Cinema Scope technique, was screened – produced by Ramsis and
directed by Mohamd Karim, starring Abdel Halim Hafiz and Shadia.
1959
On September 22, the Higher Institute for Cinema was established.
1960
For the first time, a literary work written by Naguib Mahfouz (a Nobel Prize Laureate in 1988), Bidaya w Nihaya (A Beginning and an End), was adapted for cinema.
The film was directed by Salah Abu Saif, starring Amina Rizk, Omar Sherif, Sana Gamil, Farid Shawky and Salah Mansour.
1972
El Mumya
(The Mummy), was screened in the opening of Karlovy Vary International
Film Festival, for the first time in the history of the Egyptian cinema.
El Mumya is
one of the most important films ever in the history of the Egyptian as
well as Arabic cinema. Both script and dialogue were written by Shady
Abdel Salam, and photographed by Abdel Aziz Fahmy. The film was starring
Nadia Lotfy, Ahmed Mar’i, Zozo Hamdy El Hakim and Shafik Nour Eddin.
1976
The
beginning of the first film festival, the Cairo International Film
Festival, whose first director was Kamal El Malakh (1976-1983)
1995
The
Egyptian cinema celebrates the centennial of its birth. The most
important hundred films in the history of the Egyptian cinema were
selected.