Viewers, in Egypt as any where else, believe that films are the director's medium.  In fact the script is the real blueprint for a movie, and the writer, even though the least visible, is certainly the most influential part of the creative process.

In Egypt, except for Naguib Mahfouz, all the great writers, such as Tawfik Al Hakim, Taha Husein, Youssef El Seba'i and Ihsan Abdel Kouddous, are no more!!  It seems to me that the modern writers, or most of them, are well known for their mediocrity.

To be honest, I have to admit that, while the stories of the modern Egyptian movies are by far inferior to many of the old ones, the modern acting is less theatrical and much superior to the acting of the old days.

When I lived in Egypt, some thirty five years earlier, I have to admit that I was no fan of Egyptian movies.  Except for excellent films like "BEYN EL KASREYN, AL QAHIRA 30 and DOA'A AL QARAWAN", to mention some, most of the others were kind of silly musical "TAMTAZ BIL TAFAHA" as we say in Arabic.  Now, my foreign born wife and myself enjoy watching every now and then some of those modern movies and "HALAQAT".  May be those modern films are good or it could simply be nostalgia!!!

I would like to write more and more about that most interesting subject but I have to run to watch "HALAQAT KOLLUNA LOUSOUS" (we are all thieves).

Akhoukom Kamal