FEEL IT.STREAM
Salah Abu Seif

Salah Abu Seif

Directing

Biography

Salah Abu Seif (صلاح أبو سيف‎; 1915 – 1996) was one of the most famous Egyptian film directors. Many of the 41 films he directed, many of which were based on novels by Naguib Mahfouz, are considered Egyptian classics. Known as the Godfather of Egyptian neorealism, Abu Seif pioneered shooting on location - though he also used sets - 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.

Known For

The Malatily Bathhouse
5.5

The film is an adaptation of a novel by Ismåeel Walieddin. The main character, Ahmad, leaves rural eastern Egypt for the city hoping to become economically self-sufficient, gets an apartment for his parents, and obtains a law degree. He and his family are refugees from a town occupied by the Israeli army, Ismaåilia. Ali, the owner of the Malatily Bathhouse, offers to let him stay there for free. Ahmad encounters several characters there, including Naåeema, a prostitute who he becomes obsessed with, and Raouf, a homosexual man.

The Malatily Bathhouse

1973
Rayya and Sekina
6.9

In Alexandria a terrifying phenomenon of the disappearance of women, spreads terror in the city. Police work to unravel its secrets. Officer Ahmed is preparing a plan to uncover who's behind it and it turns out to be the gang of Raya and Sakina, who were targeting women to steal their jewelry.

Rayya and Sekina

1952
Citizen Masrey
7.3

The story of Mayor Abdul Razek al-Sharshabi (Omar al-Sharif) when his younger son, Tawfiq (Khalid al-Nabawi) is called for army recruitment, his wife (Safiya al-Omari), rejects it, suggesting to send someone else to go instead. So the Mayor persuaded a poor father named Abdul-Muqeem (Izzat al-Alayli) to send his only son Masrey instead.

Citizen Masrey

1991
Sleepless
6.3

Spoiled rich girl Nadia gets jealous after finding out her father's plan to remarry. She tries to break them apart, spreading lies about her new mother-in-law and getting involved with a man twice her age.

Sleepless

1957
A Bit of Torment
8.0

When her stepfather tries to rape her, Amal kills him and flees. She finds refuge in the house of the fine artist Ahmed Khaled who falls for her, but his protégé, the sculptor Sherif, also falls for her and competes with Ahmed to win her favor.

A Bit of Torment

1969
Cairo 30
7.7

Mahgoub is a villager who moves to Cairo in search of a better life. When he enlists friend Salem's help to find him a job, Salem not only gets him a job at the ministry where he works but he finds him a bride as well. But the bride is the mistress of Qasem Bek, who will be visiting her once a week.

Cairo 30

1966
A criminal on leave
9.0

A lawyer tries to realize what crime is, and whether it is inherited or as a result of upbringing and the environment, and the lawyer comes up with a criminal and decides to treat him well and prepare him with all the appropriate circumstances.

A criminal on leave

1958
The Beginning and the End
8.2

Set in the suburbs of Cairo in the late 1930s, the story follows a middle-class Egyptian family grappling with the hardships of life after the death of their father, their sole breadwinner. The mother and her four children—three brothers and their sister, Nefisah—struggle to avoid slipping into poverty. They all go in different directions which aren't exactly good.

The Beginning and the End

1960
No Time for Love
7.3

Hamza "a member of the volunteer National Guard" meets up with the teacher Fawzya "Faten", after the fire of Cairo broke out, the British trying to capture all the volunteers in the National Guard , Hamza hiding in the house of one of his friend, and Fawzya help him, and she is trying to formation its own cell in order to hit the English forces in the Canal zone.

No Time for Love

1963
City Lights
6.0

So'aad is a poor girl who auditions for a role in a new film, but film producer Adel rejects her for she is not of noble origin. When she disguises herself as a princess, he is wholly charmed and offers her the role. How far will she go in acting?

City Lights

1972
Foreman Hassan
9.0

Hassan, a worker in a lathe workshop, is dissatisfied with his livelihood and his harsh financial conditions. One high society woman comes to him in the workshop where he works. She admires him and invites him to her villa to complete and install the decoration. Hassan becomes involved in a forbidden relationship with her and abandons his home.

Foreman Hassan

1952
The Girls in Summer
8.3

Loyal to her husband suffers from a weak personality due to strict upbringing, which exposes her to falling into the trap of her husband’s friend. There is another husband who falls in love with the maid and wants to get close to her very much, but he is afraid for his reputation, so he treats her very harshly and harasses her. There is the shy young man who falls in love with her. He falls in love with his neighbor, but she is not convinced by him because of his great shyness.

The Girls in Summer

1960
Al-Qadisiyya
10.0

A historical epic about the battle of Qadiseya, which was helmed by the Arabian knight Saad Ibn Abi Waqas, and which enabled Muslims from conquering Persia in 636 A.D.

Al-Qadisiyya

1981
Passion and Revenge
7.7

A woman seeks revenge on the man she thinks killed her husband but falls in love with him in the process.

Passion and Revenge

1944
The Thug
8.3

Haridy arrives at the vegetable market in search of a job opportunity, he works for Master Abu Zaid and after a while he separates and marries Hossnyia. Haridy forms an alliance against Abu Zaid, but he soon becomes more powerful and his condition turns to worse.

The Thug

1957
The Beast
7.1

Abdel Sabour was a thief and a smuggler known as The Beast to the people in one of the villages of upper Egypt; everyone was afraid of him, including the police. He enjoyed the protection of Redwan Pasha, who in turn used him during elections to eliminate his rivals. Officer Raouf Saleh was sent to the village with his wife and son with the assignment of arresting The Beast. However The Beast and his gang worked together from the beginning trying to dispose of the officer and his family in any way possible.

The Beast

1954
I Am Free
6.8

Part of a trilogy by Salah Abu Seif about women’s empowerment. The film takes place in late 1940s / early 1950s urban Egypt, and tells the story of a young woman’s search for personal freedom and a fulfilling identity as a young modern Egyptian.

I Am Free

1959
The Sun Will Never Set
7.7

An aristocratic family is torn down after the death of its patriarch. He leaves alone his widow wife and five of his daughters and sons. His eldest son, Ahmed (Shukry Sarhan), takes the role of the man in the house and helps his mother take care of his brother and sisters. Mamdouh (Ahmed Ramzy), his brother, is a self-centered man who refuses to follow his brother’s step and decides to make his own decisions in his life.

The Sun Will Never Set

1961
Agony of Love
7.0

Amal marries the train driver Mahmoud, who treats her harshly. She feels neglected despite her husband's presence, Mahmoud travels to another city and asks his assistant Hassan to look after his wife. During his absence, Amal expresses admiration for Hassan's morals, which soon turns into a special love.

Agony of Love

1960
The Empty Pillow
7.5

Salah, a young college student, falls in love for the first time with Samiha. He spends his nights thinking about her and looking to her face in the “empty pillow” next to him. When she marries someone else, he is devastated and her memory haunts him no matter where he goes.

The Empty Pillow

1957