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- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Faten Hamama (known as "The Lady of the Arabic Screen") has become an icon and the most important actress of Egyptian and Arabic cinema. She is also the most honored actress in the Middle East. Every decade of her life represents a new era of acting and witnessed the reshaping and progression of Egyptian cinema. The progress in her different characters when she started as a child in 1938 until today parallels the progress that modern Egyptian women have made during the 20th century and their interaction with the public, culture or political life. During the celebration of 100 years of Egyptian cinema on 1996, she was chosen as the country's most important actress, and 18 of her films were selected as among the best 150 made to that time. It was no surprise that in 2000 the Egyptian Organization of Critics and Writers named her the Star of the Century.
She was born in 1931 in Elmansoura, Egypt, the daughter of Ahmed Hamama, an employee of the Egyptian Ministry of Knowledge. Her legendary journey started as a secret statement between a six-year-old girl and her father after they watched a film in their neighborhood theater, at which leading actress and producer Asya Dagher was present. Faten told her father that she felt the audience was applauding for her as the leading actress, and her father gave her a hug with a vision of helping his daughter to become a movie star. She won a contest for the most beautiful child in Egypt, and her dad sent her picture to director Muhammad Karim (a pioneer of Egyptian cinema). Karim was looking for a child for his new film with Egyptian musician Mohamed Abdel Wahab. Faten auditioned for and got a role in this movie, Yom said (1940) ("A Happy Day"). She impressed the filmmakers so much during shooting that she was actually given more lines and scenes in the picture than were originally scripted for her. Karim put her under contract, and four years later he gave her a role in a film with Mohamed Abdel Wahab again, Russassa fil kalb (1944) ("A Bullet in the Heart"). With her third movie with Karim, Dunia (1946), Faten showed filmmakers and audiences alike that she was was an actress ready for bigger roles. Her father, along with her family, moved to Cairo to help her in her career. She also began studying her craft at the High Institute of Acting in 1946.
With actor and director Youssef Wahbi (known as the dean of Egyptian theater), Faten started a new stage of her career, in melodramas. Yousef saw her talent in Karim's movies and was able to showcase it to even better advantage in his next film, Malak al rahma (1946) ("The Angel of Mercy"), in which she played his daughter. Although only 15 years old at the time, it was generally agreed that she stole the film. This teenager was soon the talk of the Egyptian cinema, and her star hasn't set since then. She made more films with Wahby, such as Confession Chair (1949) ("The Chair of Confession"), in which she played a lover of the cardinal's brother who mistakenly goes to jail for her father's murder. She had another box-office hit with El yatimatain (1948) ("The Two Orphans"), followed by a successful comedy of the travails of a wife and her mother in law in Sitt el beit (1949) ("The Lady of the House"). She was the favorite of novelists because she could attract the best writers and directors to a project, and it wasn't soon before her name alone would pretty much guarantee success for whatever film she was in.
The 1950s brought new directors to Egyptian cinema and was the beginning of what was to become known as "The Golden Age of Egyptian Cinema". Faten appeared in a number of films by these new directors, such as Salah Abouseif's first realism picture, Laka yom ya zalem (1951) ("Your Day Will Come"), which was a box-office hit and was shown at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in France. She appeared in such successful films as El tarik el masdud (1958) ("The Barred Road") and won a Best Actresss award for her performance in the romantic political movie La wakta lil hub (1963) ("No Time for Love"). She also supported director Youssef Chahine in his first movie, Baba Amin (1950), then again in his even more successful The Blazing Sun (1954), a realistic work that was also featured at the Cannes Film Festival (Youssef is on record as saying that Faten is his favorite actress and the best Egyptian actress of all time).
She also worked with director Kamal El-Shaikh in his first movie, which introduced the mystery genre to Egyptian cinema, House No. 13 (1952) ("House No. 13"), and again in Lan aataref (1961) ("I Will Not Confess"). Their film El-Lailah el-Akhirah (1963) ("Last Night") captured at least 10 awards in the 1965 national competition and was also shown at the Cannes festival. She excelled at comedy, as evidenced by her astonishing role in El-Ustazah Fatmah (1952) as lawyer Fatma. She also worked closely with two other directors of this period, Ezz El Dine Zulficar and Henry Barakat, and made successful films with both. In fact, she married Zulficar in 1947 while shooting Abu Zeid el Hilali (1947). He was known as the king of "romantic" movies and together they worked to further that vision, as in Khulud (1948) ("Immortality") by Ezz El-Dine Zulficar. They formed a production company and made Moawad ma al hayat (1953) ("Appointment with Life") also directed by Ezz El Dine Zulficar, which was voted movie of the year and received both critical and box-office success (it was this film that caused critics to name her the "Lady of the Arabic Screen", a title she has kept to this day). Faten soon became the highest-paid actress in Egyptian cinema, and remained so until her final feature, Ardh el-Ahlam (1993) ("Land of Dreams") and TV series, Wagh el qamar (2000) ("Face of the Moon"). More successful romantic roles with Ezzel Dine followed, such as Mawad ma al saada (1954) ("Appointment with Happiness"). It was during this period that Ezz El-Dine Zulficar made his famous quote about Faten: "The distance between Faten and the next runner-up is like the distance between 1 and 10". Although they were divorced in 1954, and Faten married Omar Sharif in 1955, she and Ezz El Dine Zulficar continued to make films together, many of which are considered classics of Egyptian romantic cinema, such as Bain el atlal (1959) ("Among the Ruins") and what many consider their masterpiece, Nahr el hub (1960) ("The River of Love"), their version of Lev Tolstoy's great story "Anna Karenina", opposite Omar Sharif, and the two became one of the classic romantic couples of Egyptian cinema, appearing again in Our Best Days (1955) ("Our Best Days"), Sayedat el kasr (1958) ("Lady of the Castle"), Sleepless (1957) ("Sleepless") and The Blazing Sun (1954) ("Struggle in the Valley"). Sharif and Faten divorced on 1974. He made what became a famous statement about Faten, that he only married once because he only loved once, and that was Faten.
Director Henry Barakat specialized in musical romantic movies, social commentary and women's rights in society. During the making of Lahn al khouloud (1952) ("Immortal Song"), they developed a close professional bond, and Barakat used Faten to explore all his talent and all his visions. The success of the romantic musical Lahn al khouloud (1952) that became the movie of the year challenged both of them to make more successful musical romantic films, which they did with such pictures as Daiman maak (1954) ("With You Forever") and Mawad gharam (1956) ("Appointment with Love"). IT was with Barakat that Fatan made her most famous and beloved picture, with her role as Ammna in Doa al karawan (1959) ("The Nightingale's Prayer"), which describes differences between revenge and culture through a romantic story. It was nominated for Best Film at Berlin's International Film Festival and almost made it to the Oscars in the US. This film was chosen as one of best ten movies ever made in Egypt. After this picture Faten made several more films that promoted women's rights in society and created more cultural awareness, such as El bab el maftuh (1963) ("The Open Door"), for which she received the Best Actress award at the Jakarta (Indonesia) International Film Festival. One year later they did it again in El haram (1965) ("The Sin"), which was shown at the Cannes festival that year and was chosen as one of best five movies ever made in Egypt. Faten and Barakat continued their journey together through decades for more outstanding roles as Kheit al rafeigh, -al (1971) ("The Thin Thread"), Mouths and Rabbits (1977) ("Mouths and Rabbits"); Faten won Best Actress awards from two international festival for her role in this movie, and it was the highest-grossing Egyptian film ever made until that time. Their last picture together was a remarkable hit, Leilet al quabd al Fatma (1984) ("The Night of Fatma's Arrest"). Their journey was crowned by a lifetime achievement award for their films together from the Montpellier International Film Festival on 1993. Barakat's was quoted as saying, "If I could get Faten in my films, I will guarantee us the best picture".
Faten left Egypt from 1966-1971 because she resisted political pressure that was applied to her. She divided her time between Lebanon and London, England. During this period Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser asked some prominent critics and writers to try to persuade her to return to Egypt, saying that "Faten Hamama is a national treasure". Her return to Egypt on 1971 breathed life back into Egyptian cinema. She insisted that her films reflect the values of the society through the family relationships. Her first film upon return was Sahera (1971) with Salah Zulfikar. Her role in Imberaturiyyat Mim (1972) ("Empire M") as a widow with six children and the struggles she endured to raise them made the film a success both critically and financially, and she earned a special award from an organization of Soviet Union women when the film was shown at the Moscow International Film Festival. Her film Orid hallan (1975) ("I Need a Solution") which was produced by Salah Zulfikar was not only a big hit but resulted in changes to Egyptian marriage and divorce laws. Faten won the Best Actress award at the Cairo International Film Festival and a Prize of Recognition at the Teheran (Iran) Film Festival. She continued to make films that commented on society, such as Oghneyat elmoot (1973) ("The Song of Death"), Ualla azae lel sayedat (1979) ("No Condolences for Ladies"), Bad Day Good Day (1988) ("Bitter Days, Sweet Days") and her last feature, Ardh el-Ahlam (1993) ("Land of Dreams"), and her TV series, Conscience of Teacher Hikmat (1991) ("The Consciousness of Teacher Hekmat") and Wagh el qamar (2000) ("The Face of the Moon"), which was shown in 23 countries in the Middle East.
Faten Hamama is the fourth Pyramid in Egyptian cinema, a legend in her platinum anniversary, the diamond that remained shining and kept its glowing over the decades on the silver screen.- Saddam Hussein was a bloody and brutal dictator who kept his country of Iraq at war almost constantly after assuming power in 1979. At least one million people died due to the machinations of Saddam. After his regime was toppled by the U.S. invasion of 2003, he wound up on a gallows, his life terminated at the end of a hangman's noose.
Saddam invaded neighboring Iran in 1980 and waged war for seven years and 11 months, making it the longest conventional war in the 20th Century. Saddam had hoped to take advantage of what he perceived as the chaos of the Iranian revolution to settle border disputes and suppress his own Shi'ite Muslim population. (Iran is predominantly Shi'ite while Hussein was a Sunni Muslim.) The war ended in a stalemate with approximately 500,000 Iraqis and 400,000 Iranians dead. Both sides, major oil producers, suffered economic losses of half-a-trillion dollars. Saddam used poison gas against Iranian troops, an atrocity even Adolf Hitler didn't engage on the battlefields of World War II.
Beginning in 1986 and continuing through 1989, Saddam launched a deliberate campaign of genocide against the Kurds in northern Iraq. The campaign also targeted areas populated by other minorities, including Assyrians and Jews. In 1988, his forces launched a poison gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja that killed as many as 5,000 people and injured as many as 10,000. In all, Saddam's three-year-long genocide against the Kurds and other minorities claimed as many as 182,000 lives.
In 1990, the war-monger Saddam invaded Kuwait with the intention of looting and annexing the oil-rich country. An international coalition was put together by the first President George Bush and freed Kuwait but left Saddam in power. His son President George W. Bush put together a second coalition army dominated by American and British forces that invaded Iraq in March 2003 to depose the dictator.
The invasion was launched on the pretext that he possessed weapons of mass destruction and was in league with al-Qaeda, the terrorist group that had launched the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Both charges were false, but it led to Saddam's capture in December 2003. He was subsequently tried and executed by the Iraqi interim government for the killing of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites in 1982. His death sentence was carried out on December 30, 2006. - Actor
- Music Department
- Director
Abdel Halim Hafez was born on June 21, 1929, in the village of Al-Hilwat in the province of Al-Sharkia, the fourth child of Sheikh Ali Ismael Shabana following after Ismael, Aliah, and Mohamed. His mother died during his delivery. His father was to die five years later. His work included 16 feature films, his first being Lahn el wafaa (1955) and the last being Abi foq al-Shagara (1969). He also starred in the first Egyptian color CinemaScope picture Dalila (1956). He left a legacy of over 260 songs. Towards the end of his career, he entered into contracts for five films but was unable to realize any of them due to his failing health. Abdel Halim Hafez died at the age of 48, on March 30, 1977, having dedicated half his life to the singing of songs that were to remain in the hearts of his people forever. He was one of the most famous performing artists of his era. He sang with manifest true feelings.- Actress
Alek Wek is a fashion model best known for being one of the first mainstream dark-skinned African models to appear on fashion magazine covers and work both campaigns and fashion shows in mid 1990's. Wek appeared on the covers or been featured in many international fashion magazines including Elle, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Vogue among others. She has been in campaigns for Victoria Secret, Clinique, Chanel, Calvin Klein Givenchy, Fendi, Armani, Christian Dior and Moschino among others. She also appeared in the high profile 2001 Victoria's Secret Fashion show. She was born In April 16, 1977 in Wau, South Sudan to Akuol and Athian Wek. Wek's Dinka ethnic heritage put her family at risk in the ongoing civil war in Sudan. She fled to Britain at age fourteen with her family in 1991 to escape ethnic genocide in Sudan. Wek was attending London's College of Fashion when was discovered at age eighteen at an outdoor market in Crystal Palace, London, England by as model scout. She made her debut that same year in Tina Turner's "GoldenEye" music video for the theme song for the namesake 1995 James Bond film.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
He was one of the greatest actors of all times, who had ever acted in the Egyptian & Arabic cinema history.
Descendant from the Abaza Family, one of the richest and most well-known families in whole Egypt.
Appeared in more than 100 film, most notable for his roles in films such as: Tamr Henna, Serae Fel Nile, El Ragoul El Saney, El Zouga Rakam Talatashar, Arous El Nile & Saghera Ala El Hob.- Actress
- Composer
- Music Department
Umm Kulthum was born on 4 May 1904 in Tammay al-Zahayrah, Daqahliyah, Egypt. She was an actress and composer, known for Wedad (1936), Nashid al-Amal (1937) and Aydah (1942). She died on 3 February 1975 in Cairo, Egypt.- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Camera and Electrical Department
Alan McAlex was born in Al, Khobar, Saudi Arabia. He is a producer, known for Once Again (2018), Dangal (2016) and Talvar (2015).- Hosni Mubarak was born on 4 May 1928 in Al-Minufiyah, Egypt. He was an actor, known for Wadaa' fi elfagr (1956), Vremya (1968) and 60 Minutes (1968). He was married to Suzan Mubarak. He died on 25 February 2020 in Cairo, Egypt.
- Anwar Sadat was born on 25 December 1918 in Mit Abu al-Kum, Al-Minufiyah, Egypt. He was married to Jehan Sadat and Ehsan Madi. He died on 6 October 1981 in Cairo, Egypt.
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Rashid Masharawi was born in 1962 in Al Shati, Gaza Strip, Palestine. He is a director and writer, known for Laila's Birthday (2008), Ticket to Jerusalem (2002) and Attente (2005).- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Guido Celano was born on 19 April 1904 in Francavilla al Mare, Abruzzo, Italy. He was an actor and director, known for Piluk, the Timid One (1968), Journey to the Lost City (1960) and The Life of Giuseppe Verdi (1938). He was married to Tina Xeo. He died on 7 March 1988 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Sound Department
- Producer
- Director
Alberto Fasulo born in 1976, started working in the movie industry as assistant director, between fiction and creative documentary, learning the job on film sets. In 2008 he directed and produced his first feature film, documentary Rumore Bianco, selected by many international festivals and distributed in theaters in Italy. His debut singled him out as «a new promising author» according to Italian critics. In 2013 he directed "TIR" his first fiction feature film, and won the gold Marc'Aurelio for the best film in the International competition at Rome Film Festival. Alberto Fasulo participates in 68th Locarno Film Festival with Genitori (Parents), a documentary film that faces the issue of disability from an unusual point of view, avoiding pietism, rhetoric, and irony. In 2018 Menocchio by Alberto Fasulo is selected in the Official Competition at 71st Locarno Film Festival and wins the Junior Jury Special Mention. In October 2018 Menocchio wins the Grand Prix at the festival Annency Cinéma Italien.- Younes Shalaby was born on 31 May 1949 in Al Mansurah, Egypt. He was an actor, known for Mister Dollar (1993), We Are the Bus People (1979) and Little Love, Much Violence (1995). He died on 12 November 2007 in Cairo, Egypt.
- Franco Castellano was born on 11 January 1957 in San Vito al Tagliamento, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. He is an actor, known for La piovra (1984), Hannover (2003) and Il maresciallo Rocca (1996).
- Editor
- Director
- Writer
Alessandro Comodin was born on 5 June 1982 in San Vito al Tagliamento, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. He is an editor and director, known for Summer of Giacomo (2011), Happy Times Will Come Soon (2016) and Gigi la legge (2022).- Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri was born on 1 July 1942 in al-Dour, Salahuddin, Iraq. He died on 25 October 2020 in Iraq.
- Actor
- Transportation Department
Italian race driver Lorenzo Bandini started out his career like so many other race drivers, that of a mechanic. From there he progressed to driving the cars and was successful as a sports car driver, rally racer and ultimately Grand Prix driver. He drove for three major Grand Prix teams, Cooper, BRM and the world famous Ferrari. It was with Ferrari he enjoyed his greatest success, winning the 1964 Austrian Grand Prix, but he also paid for it heavily, crashing on the 82nd lap of the famed Monaco Grand Prix, in 1967. His car flipped upside down in the middle of the track and burst into flames. Bandini suffered terrible burns and died three days later in the hospital. He was 31.- Mar Mari Emmanuel was born on 19 July 1970 in Haditha, Al Anbar Governorate, Iraq.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Vittorio Sanipoli was born on 27 October 1915 in Quinto al Mare, Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He was an actor, known for Il figlio del corsaro rosso (1943), The Organizer (1963) and Constantine and the Cross (1961). He died on 25 July 1992 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan was born on 7 September 1948 in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates. Khalifa was married to Shamsa bint Suhail Al Mazrouei. Khalifa died on 13 May 2022 in the United Arab Emirates.
- Raphael Akeel was born on 4 June 1993 in Al-Harra, Daraa Governorate, Syria. He is an actor and writer, known for Give Me Up - Wie einen Fisch auf dem Trockenen (2020), In aller Freundschaft - Die jungen Ärzte (2015) and Der Geier - Die Tote mit dem falschen Leben.
- Gassan Abbas was born in Umm al-Fahm, Israel. He is known for When Pigs Have Wings (2011), 200 Meters (2020) and Ticket to Jerusalem (2002).
- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Bruno Zambrini was born on 5 April 1935 in Francavilla al Mare, Abruzzo, Italy. He is a composer, known for The American (2010), Notte prima degli esami (2006) and Ex (2009).- Lea Cirianni was born on 15 February 1975 in San Vito al Tagliamento, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. She is an actress, known for Casomai (2002), Gli occhi dell'altro (2005) and Inspector Coliandro (2003).
- Ahmed Salama was born on 29 January 1995 in Itay Al Barud, Al Buhayrah, Egypt. He is an actor, known for The Nile Hilton Incident (2017), Bittersweet (2010) and Winter of Discontent (2012).