Women have always been instrumental in the development of the cinema in Egypt.
However, they struggled a lot to prove this as a fact.
Some actresses did their best to make their mark on the screen, but hardly made any successes.
In 1927 two important films, namely ‘Kiss in the Desert’ and ‘Laila’, were produced.
The two films starred actress and producer Aziza Amir who was the first Egyptian woman to appear on the screen without a head cover.
The general mood at the time was against the presence of women in cinema.
This was why producers were reluctant to give any roles to women, let alone produce films starred by women.
Female producers who ventured to give roles to women or produce female-dominated films ended up losing their money and going bankrupt.
Strangely enough, few people among cinema lovers were ready to go to the cinemas to watch films starred, produced or directed by women.
Until the 1960s, women were depicted in the cinema as mere toadies of males, whether these males were their husbands, brothers or even their bosses in the workplace.
Women were also portrayed as sex symbols who fall into the nets of or in love with male heroes at the end of the films.
Producers and directors believed at the time this would be the best way to gain popularity and attract the largest number of viewers to their films.
But this is exactly why present-day critics fault the cinema of the past.
Renowned cinema critic and scriptwriter, Samir el-Gamal, said cinema is mainly based on men and women.
“Women sometimes even have deeper roles to play than men,” he told the Egyptian Mail.
He drove an important point home: Egyptian cinema was pioneered by women, when it came to production and acting, before Talaat Harb established Studio Misr in 1937.
Amir, for example, established her own film company in 1927. Assya Dagher, Mary Queen and Baheega Hafez did the same and played an important role in the production of Egyptian films that focused on women and their problems.
“These female cinema professionals have left behind a legacy of serving the causes of women at the time,” el-Gamal said. “They did this by producing and acting in films led by women.”
The same cinema professionals opened the door for the presence of a trend known at the time as ‘cinema by women for women’.
Before Amir appeared on the screen, female roles used to be played by male actors.
Nonetheless, some films showed women in a deep manner, but they were adaptations of some important novels.
These films include ‘I am Free’ which was produced in 1959, ‘Sin’ which was produced in 1965’ and ‘Taste of Fear’ which was produced in 1969.
‘My General Manager Wife’ tells the story of Esmat, an authoritative woman character that was played by famous actress Shadya. She gets promoted to general manager at the very company where her husband also works.
The character of the husband, Hussein, is played by famous actor Salah Zulfikar. He supports his wife as she assumes her new post, but then his enthusiasm wanes and takes offence at her harsh treatment of him at the workplace and in front of his colleagues, which of course contrasts her romantic treatment of him at home.
The film broke the general norms of the time because it showed women in a position superior to men, contrary to what prevalent then.
It also presented a unique model of a hardworking woman who succeeds in the workplace and at home.
El-Gamal lashed out at cinema directors, scriptwriters and producers for overlooking women’s issues.
“A fraction of the 7,000 films produced in Egypt so far deals with women and their role in society,” el-Gamal said.
“Nevertheless, some of the new films have deep insights into women’s issues, such as sexual harassment and marital infidelity,” he added.
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