# Niazi Mostafa

Niazi Mostafa (Egyptian Arabic: نيازي مصطفى) was an Egyptian film director. Mostafa was born on 11 November 1911 in the city of Asyut, Khedivate of Egypt to a Sudanese father and Turkish mother. Mostafa would complete his university studies in Germany and joined the German Film Institute, he then returned to Egypt to work as an editor at Studio Misr.

## Egyptian Cinema

Egyptian movie critic Samīr Farīd wrote that Mostafa was one of "The most important directors in the history of Egyptian cinema".
In 1936, he directed several promotional documentaries for Banque Misr group companies.

## Works

* Salama Is Safe or Everything is Fine (1938) - Salama fi khair
* Si Omar (1941) - Si ʿOmar
* The Wife Factory (1941) - Masnaa El-Zawgât
* Rabha (1943) - Râbha
* The Valley of Stars (1943) - Wâdî El-Negoum
* Hababa (1944) - Habâbah
* Hassan and Hassan (1944) - Hassan we Hassan
* The Magic Cap (1944) - Tâeyyet El-Ekhfaʾ
* Mohamed-Ali Street (1944) - Share' Mohamed ʻAlî
* My Daughter (1944) - Ibnatî
* Antar and Abla (1945) - ʿAntar we Abla
* The Human Being (1945) - El-Banî âdam
* Miss Boussa (1945) - El-Ânisah Boussah
* Son of the East (1945) - Egyptian-Iraqi co-production - Ibn El-Chark, Le fils de l'Orient
* A Glass and a Cigarette or Sigarra we Kas (1955)
* A Scrap of Bread (1960) - Loqmat Al-Aish
* The Most Dangerous Man in the World (1967) - Akhtar ragol fil alam
* Pleasure and Suffering (1971)
* Without Pity (1971) - Bela Rahma
* Searching for a Scandal (1973) - El Bahs Ann fediha
* A Girl Named Maĥmood (1975)
* Hereditary Madness (1975) - Magânîn bi-l-wirâthah
* The Delinquents (1976) - El-Mounharifoun
* First Year of Love (1976) - Sanah oula houbb - Co-directed by Mostafa, Salah Abou Seif, Atef Salem, Kamal al-Cheikh, and Helmi Rafla

## Mysterious death

On 18, 19 or 20 October, 1986, Niazi's personal chef went to wake him up and serve him breakfast and newspapers, employed to do so since 1970. Chef was surprised to find the door locked, no one answered the knock and the chef presumed that the director was tired as he was in work for a film at the time so he left. After returning from his day job, he entered the door using a spare key obtained by Niazi's sister, Hajjah Zainab Mostafa where he nearly fainted at the sight of the director lying in a pool of his own blood wearing a white robe, his hands were tied behind his back and a cloth stuffed into his mouth while the veins of his hands were cut. On 16 January 1987 the prosecutor could not find evidence against any specific person and decided to preserve the investigation.

## Personal life

Niazi was married twice, first to his studio colleague at the editing department, named Najia Ibrahim Belal or Tahia Ibrahin Belal, an actress better known by her stage name Kouka, or Koka who was famous for playing the role of a Bedouin girl and starred in films such as Rabha (1945), Wedad (1936) and Mughamarat Antar wa Abla (1948). She was known as "The Egyptian Cinema Abla", dubbed "African Princess" by newspapers and most fondly remembered as the first Egyptian Actress to reach the world. She was born on March 7, 1917, in Cairo Governorate and also born to a Sudanese father like Niazi while her mother was Egyptian Arab Native. The pair were married after what is considered one of the most famous love stories in the artistic community, although she could not birth any children after 4 years of marriage and thus agreed to have Niazi marry a second wife which was handpicked by her, choosing a dancer Nemat Mukhtar. Niazi however chose to leave Ne’mat Mukhtar after a month and returned to his first wife Kouka, whom he described as the love of his life and stuck by her as she was diagnosed with malignant cancer, passing away on 29 January 1979 in Alexandria aged 62 with Niazi by her side.