Before the establishment of the famously known ‘Studio Misr’ by Talaat Harb in 1937, which represented a hub of cinematic creativity and produced many of Egypt’s film classics, Mofida Mohamed Ghoniem, or known by her stage name ‘Aziza Amir’, was the true pioneer of Egyptian cinema. Men initially used to play female roles “under disguise”, and most film productions were played and produced by foreign men, which rarely ever portrayed the real lives of Egyptians. Female artists, for a long time, were mostly shunned and rejected by society – labeled as prostitutes or slaves. This widely changed with the appearance of the first woman to produce and appear on screen: Aziza Amer in the Egyptian film ‘Laila’ in 1927. As nationalist sentiments and Egypt’s feminist movement were unfolding at the same time, Aziza Amer’s ambition in theatre and cinema coincided with Hoda Shaarawy’s fight for women’s rights, when she famously took off her full face veil in the public in 1923. Upon seeing the film at its premiere, Rebecca Hillauer noted in “The Encyclopedia of Arab Women Filmmakers” that Talaat Harb once said, “Aziza Amir has achieved what men have…
The Story of Aziza Amir: First Female Filmmaker and Actress in Egypt
September 22, 2019
