Khairy Beshara is an Egyptian film director active in the Egyptian film industry since the 1970s. He is considered one of the Egyptian directors who re-defined Realism in Egyptian cinema in the 1980s. In a recent book published by Bibliotheca Alexandrina in 2007 about the most important 100 films in the history of Egyptian cinema, three of his movies were listed: The Collar and the Bracelet, Bitter Day, Sweet Day, and Ice Cream in Gleem.
The Locarno Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, short, avant-garde, and retrospective programs. The Piazza Grande section is held in an open-air venue that seats 8,000 spectators.
Kal-El Naga, is an Egyptian American actor, director and producer. He is recognized primarily for his work in Egypt and the Middle East, but has increasingly ventured into American and British film and television roles since 2006. He started acting and directing plays and musicals in Egypt while studying theatre at The American University in Cairo. Beginning his professional acting career in 2000, Naga starred in several movies through the next decade with roles encompassing several genres, from musicals None but that! (2007), action Agamista (2007), ''Eyes Of A Thief'' (2014), thrillers Kashf Hesab (2007), art-house Heliopolis (2009), Villa 69 (2013), Decor (2014), and slapstick comedy Habibi Naêman (2008). Additionally, he has participated in several European film festivals, where he received a range of awards as an actor and producer. Since 2016, he has acted in several English-speaking roles, such as Tyrant on FX, History Channel's Vikings, and the BBC's TV mini-series The Last Post, and announced to appear in the upcoming Netflix Show Messiah 2019. In a film festival in 2016 that celebrated Arab film submissions to the Oscars, he was noted as being the most submitted actor in Arabic films submissions to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He is often tagged in western media as "Egypt's Brad Pitt", and he has also been described as "the next Omar Sharif" especially after his American debut movie Civic Duty in 2007. Chosen as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF in 2007, Naga played a pivotal role in child rights awareness, as well as the very first HIV awareness campaigns in Egypt and the Arab world, and participated in several international causes, including advocating for democracy in his home country Egypt. He is one of the most recognizable celebrity faces of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, taking part in mass demonstrations in Cairo that led to the removal of President Mubarak. He faced defamation campaigns against him by the state-owned media during the Mubarak era before the January 25th, 2011 revolution in Egypt, and several times again from the 2013 "coup d'etat" General Sisi government in Egypt in retaliation for his advocacy about the deterioration of human rights, especially Egyptian youth situation in Egypt.
The Egyptian film industry is today based mainly in Cairo, which is sometimes referred to as Hollywood on the Nile or Hollywood of the East, despite having its beginnings in the city of Alexandria in the early 20th century. A strong industry grew in Egypt with a high distribution rate among the Arab world, and Cairo produces around three-quarters of the Arab world's screen output. It has had a large effect on the African and Arab film industry since the early 20th century.
Arab cinema or Arabic cinema refers to the film industry of the Arab world. Most productions come from Egyptian cinema.
The cinema of Saudi Arabia is a fairly small industry that only produces a few feature films and documentaries every year. Theaters were closed after religious activism in the 1980s. With the exception of one IMAX theater in Khobar, there were no cinemas in Saudi Arabia from 1983 to 2018, although there was occasional talk of opening movie theaters, and in 2008 conference rooms were rented to show the Saudi comedy film Mennahi. Saudis wishing to watch films have done so via satellite, DVD, or video. Cinemas were banned for 35 years until the first cinema in Saudi Arabia opened on 18 April 2018 in Riyadh.
The cinema of Lebanon, according to film critic and historian Roy Armes, is the only other cinema in the Arabic-speaking region, beside Egypt's, that could amount to a national cinema. Cinema in Lebanon has been in existence since the 1920s, and the country has produced more than 500 films.
The Night of Counting the Years, also released in Egypt as The Mummy, is a 1969 Egyptian film and the only feature film directed by Shadi Abdel Salam. It features a special appearance by Nadia Lutfi. It is the 3rd on the list of Top 100 Egyptian films. The film was produced by Roberto Rossellini for General Egyptian Cinema Organisation. Rossellini was instrumental in encouraging Abdel Salam to make the film, which tells a story set among the grave robbers of Kurna in Upper Egypt.
Menna Shalaby is an Egyptian actress. She is featured in numerous film and TV productions, among which is the television series Every Week Has a Friday, which earned her a nomination for an International Emmy Award, making Shalaby the first Egyptian nominee.
Daoud Abdel Sayed is an Egyptian director and screenwriter. He was born in Cairo in 1946. He started as the assistant of Youssef Chahine in The Land. He made several critically acclaimed films, and won several international awards notably for The Land of Fear which was produced in 1999.
Amr Waked is an Egyptian film, television and stage actor. He is best known to international audiences and in Hollywood for his role in the 2005 film Syriana. Other prominent roles include a Yemeni sheikh called Muhammad in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Pierre Del Rio in Luc Besson's Lucy and Farouk Hassan in Ramy.
Hend Sabry is a Tunisian and Egyptian actress and producer. She lives in Cairo, Egypt.
Tamer El Said is an Egyptian filmmaker. He wrote, produced and directed numerous films including Take Me (2004), an award-winning documentary about five friends who unwittingly became political prisoners in Morocco, and the short film On a Monday (2005) on an old married couple who rediscover their relationship. His first fiction feature In the Last Days of the City was shot in Cairo, Berlin, Baghdad and Beirut and premiered in 2016 at the Berlin International Film Festival. He is co-founder of several independent initiatives in Cairo, including Cimatheque Alternative Film Centre, Mosireen, and Zero Production.
A growing number of film festivals are held in the Arab world to showcase films from the region as well as international standouts. In addition, institutions and organizations in other parts of the world are increasingly honoring the new generation of filmmakers in the Arab world with Arab film festivals.
Abu Bakr “A.B.” Shawky is an Egyptian-Austrian writer and director. His first feature film, Yomeddine, was selected to participate in the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and was screened in the Main Competition section and compete for the Palme d'Or. The film also won the Silver Tanit Award for Best Feature Film at the Carthage International Film Festival.
Sherif El Bendary is an Egyptian film director, writer and producer. His debut feature film was Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim.
The Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF) is an annual film festival for African cinema in Luxor, Egypt. In October 2019 the Malmö Arab Film Festival recognized LAFF for having "made great strides and [become] one of the most important festivals specialized in African cinema".
The 36th Cairo International Film Festival was held from November 9–18, 2014, including 17 films from ten Arab countries. Six films featured were nominated for the 87th Academy Awards the following year. The jury included four male and four female filmmakers representing the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Europe as well as the disciplines of direction, screenwriting, production, cinematography, and criticism, headed by Egyptian actress Yousra.
Diamand Abou Abooud is a Lebanese actress, working in Europe and the Arab world, specifically Lebanon and Egypt.
Arzé is a 2024 Lebanese comedy-drama directed by Mira Shaib in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Diamand Abou Abboud, Betty Taoutel, and Bilal Al Hamwi. The film was Lebanon's submission to the 97th Academy Award, but was not nominated.
