page_title: Faten Hamama
section_title: Controversy in the late 1960s
hierarchical_section_title: Faten Hamama / Career / Controversy in the late 1960s
caption_attribution_description: English: Faten Hamama in Al-Haram. Promotional photo from here [1]
context_page_description: Faten Hamama was an Egyptian film and television actress and film producer.
  She made her screen debut in 1939, when she was seven years old. Her earliest roles were minor, but her activity and gradual success helped to establish her as a distinguished Egyptian actress. Later revered as an icon in Egyptian and Middle Eastern cinema, Hamama substantially helped in improving the cinema industry in Egypt and emphasizing the importance of women in cinema and Egyptian society.
  After a seven-year hiatus from acting, Hamama returned in 2000 in what was a much anticipated television miniseries, Wageh El Amar. In 2000, she was selected as Star of the Century by the Egyptian Writers and Critics organization. In 2007, eight of the films she starred in were included in the top 100 films in the history of Egyptian cinema by the cinema committee of the Supreme Council of Culture in Cairo.
context_section_description: Hamama left Egypt from 1966 to 1971, claiming that she was being harassed by Egyptian Intelligence. She had been a supporter of the 1952 Revolution, but later became an opponent of the Free Officers and their oppressive regime. She said they were "asking her to cooperate" but she apologized and refused. In consequence, she was forbidden to travel or participate in film festivals. She was only able to leave Egypt after many serious disputes, where she lived in Paris, London and Lebanon.
  While she was away, then President Gamal Abdel Nasser asked famous writers, journalists and friends to try to convince her to return to Egypt. He called her a "national treasure" and even awarded her an honorary decoration in 1965. However, she did not return until 1971, after Nasser's death. Following her return she played roles conveying messages of democracy. She often criticized the laws in Egypt in her films. In the 1972 film Imbratoriyat Meem (إمبراطورية ميم, The Empire of M), Hamama presented a pro-democratic point of view and received an award from the Soviet Union of Women in the Moscow International Festival. Her most significant film was Oridu Hallan (أريد حلاً, I Want a Solution). In this film, she criticised laws governing marriage and divorce in Egypt. After the film, the Egyptian government abrogated a law that forbade wives from divorcing their husbands, therefore allowing khul'.
caption: Hamama in Al Haram (1965).
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