# Salah Abu Seif

Salah Abu Seif (Arabic: صلاح أبو سيف, Ṣalāḥ Abū Sayf) (May 10, 1915 – June 23, 1996) was one of the most famous Egyptian film directors, and is considered to be the godfather of Neorealist cinema in Egyptian cinema. Many of the 41 films he directed are considered Egyptian classics; eight of them rank in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s list of 100 Greatest Egyptian Films, the most of any director. Another 1997 Top 100 ranking by Egyptian film critics lists eleven of Abu Seif's films, right behind Youssef Chahine with twelve films. His film The Beginning and the End (1960) was the first adaptation of a novel by Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz. In 1977 he was a member of the jury at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival.

## Early life

Abu-Seif was born in 1915, in Cairo's ancient quarter of Boolaq, to landowning parents from Upper Egypt. He was 12 years old when he saw the first full- length feature film made by an Egyptian, in 1927, at a local movie-house - earlier films were imports accompanied by Egyptian narrations, or made by Europeans living in Egypt. As the son of a conservative family, Abu-Seif graduated from the Cairo College of Commerce and Economics in 1932, while at the same time working as a freelance reporter following movie stars. But it was at his day job as a clerk in a factory that he met the Egyptian film-maker Niazy Mustapha, who was on a shoot there. Mustapha made him a film editor.
In 1939, Abu-Seif won a scholarship to study film in Paris. Within five years of his return in 1942, he had established himself as one of the most avant-garde second generation film-makers in the country. He pioneered shooting on location - though he also used reconstructions - in places none of his predecessors had dared to visit, like ghurza (the equivalent of old Chinese opium dens), brothels and impoverished areas whose existence had never been officially acknowledged.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Arabic Title | Notes |
| 1946 | Always in My Heart | Dayman fi Qalbi دايماً في قلبي | |
| 1947 | The Avenger | Al-Muntaqim المنتقم | |
| 1948 | The Adventures of Antar and Abla | Mughamarat Antar wa Abla مغامرات عنتر وعبلة | Nominated for "Grand Prize of the Festival" at the 1949 Cannes Film Festival |
| 1948 | Street of the Acrobat Sharia | al-Bahlawan شارع البهلوان | |
| 1950 | The Falcon | Al-Sakr الصقر | |
| 1950 | Love is a Problem | Al-Hob Bahdala الحب بهدلة | |
| 1951 | Your Day Will Come | Lak Yawm Ya Zalem لك يوم يا ظالم | |
| 1952 | Foreman Hassan | Al-Osta Hassan الأسطى حسن | |
| 1953 | Raya and Sekina | Raya wa Sekina ريا وسكينة | |
| 1954 | The Monster | Al-Wahsh الوحش | Nominated for "Grand Prize of the Festival" at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival |
| 1956 | A Woman's Youth | Shabab Emraa شباب إمرأة | Nominated for "Golden Palm" at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival |
| 1957 | The Tough | Al-Fetewa الفتوة | Nominated for "Golden Bear" at Berlin Film Festival |
| 1957 | The Empty Pillow | Al-Wessada al-Khalia الوسادة الخالية | |
| 1957 | Sleepless | La Anam لا أنام | |
| 1958 | Criminal on Holiday | Mugrem fi Agaza مجرم في إجازة | |
| 1958 | The Barred Road | Al-Tarik al-Masdud الطريق المسدود | |
| 1958 | This is the Love | Haza Howa al-Hob هذا هو الحب | |
| 1959 | I Am Free | Ana Horra أنا حرة | |
| 1959 | Between Heaven and Earth | Bayn al-Samaa wa al-Ard بين السماء والأرض | |
| 1960 | Agony of Love | Lawet al-Hob لوعة الحب | |
| 1960 | The Girls and the Summer | Al-Banat wa al-Saif البنات والصيف | |
| 1960 | The Beginning and an End | Bidaya wa nihaya بداية ونهاية | Nominated for "Grand Prix" at the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival |
| 1961 | The Sun Will Never Set | La Tutf'e al-Shams لا تطفىء الشمس | |
| 1962 | Letter from an Unknown Woman | Ressala Min Emraa Maghoula رسالة من إمرأة مجهولة | |
| 1963 | No Time for Love | La Wakt lil Hob لا وقت للحب | |
| 1966 | Cairo 30 | Al-Qahira 30 القاهرة 30 | |
| 1967 | The Second Wife | Al-Zawga al-Thaniya الزوجة الثانية | |
| 1968 | Three Women | Thalath Nisa ثلاث نساء | |
| 1969 | Case 68 | Al-Qadia 68 القضية 68 | |
| 1969 | A Bit of Suffering | Shia min al Azab شيء من العذاب | |
| 1971 | Dawn of Islam | Fajr al-Islam فجر الإسلام | |
| 1973 | Malatily Bathhouse | Hammam al-Malatily حمام الملاطيلي | |
| 1975 | The Liar | Al-Kadab الكداب | |
| 1976 | First Year Love | Sana Oula Hob سنة أولى حب | |
| 1977 | She Fell in the Honey Sea | Sakatat fi Bahr al-Asal سقطت في بحر العسل | |
| 1977 | The Water-Carrier Is Dead | Al-Saqqa Mat السقا مات | Won "Best Film of the Year" at Egyptian Film Association |
| 1978 | The Criminal | Al-Mugrem المجرم | |
| 1982 | The Qadisiya | Al-Qadisiya القادسية | Nominated for "Golden Prize" at the 12th Moscow International Film Festival |
| 1986 | The Beginning | Al-Bidaya البداية | |
| 1991 | The Egyptian Citizen | Al-Moaten Masry المواطن مصري | Nominated for "Golden St. George" at the 17th Moscow International Film Festival |
| 1994 | Mr. Kaaf | Al-Sayed Kaaf السيد كاف | |