The BA Celebrates the Birth of the Seventh Art in Alexandria and Launches a Website and a Catalogue
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Alexandria—
The BA celebrated on Tuesday, 31 July 2007, the birth of the seventh art in Alexandria and honored Alexandrian cinema stars in an event similar to the anniversary of Egyptian Cinema.
The celebration started with the inauguration of "The Birth of the Seventh Art in Alexandria" Exhibition featuring a rare collection of documents and posters of early Egyptian cinema. The Exhibition displays acquisitions of the late Mohamed Bayoumi, donated by his sister Dawlat Bayoumi, including stamps, his shooting hat, his bag, and a collection of wooden puppets he had made.
The Exhibition area is dedicated to Alexandrians and comprises a distinguished collection of Black and White portraits. The Exhibition also includes an area for film posters, starring Alexandrians including Bahiga Hafez, Fatma Roushdy, Camilia, Kiety, Zenat Sedky, Hassan Fayek, Hind Rustom, Nadia El-Gendy, Omar Sharif, Shoukry Sarhan, Shwikar, Madiha Kamel, Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, and Mahmoud Morsi.
Shots from Egyptian films are displayed on large screens in the Exhibition area. One of the screens displays "Banat El-Liel" starring Hind Rustom, and the other displays a shot by American actress Rita Hayworth, Alexandria born, focusing on the resemblance between the two actresses.
The Exhibition includes special areas for each actor documenting his/her artistic works. Another area is dedicated to the theme "Alexandria and the International Cinema" featuring photos from the movie "Cleopatra", and photos of actresses playing Cleopatra in different movies.
The Exhibition comprises parts of early Alexandria show halls, featuring the oldest film projector from cinema plaza, a seat from cinema Odeon, Al-Ambassador, Al-Hambra, Al-Kuzmugeraf, in addition to rare photos of cinema Metro, Reo, Odeon, Kosmos, and Amir.
Touring the Exhibition, visitors will get to know that the first theater in Alexandria was a musical theater on the shores of Ras El-Teen, and the first cinema in Asia, Africa, and Middle East was Al-Kuzmugeraf Cinema. The Exhibition also displays documents, photos, and correspondences by Ibrahim and Badr Lama, and a poster of actress Amina Rezk with Badr Lama in the movie "Kais and Layla".
One of the most important sections of the Exhibition is "Studio Misr" featuring decors from the movie "Akhenaton", including clothes, accessories, sun boats, and sketches by Shady Abdel Salam, as well as film shooting equipment (Cameras) and lighting equipment dating back to the founding of the Studio.
Following the opening of the Exhibition, a celebration was held presented by Samir Sabry, in which General Adel Labib, Governor of Alexandria, Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the BA, and Nicola Bellomo, Representative of the European Delegation in Cairo spoke. Dr. Mohamed Awad, Director of Alexandria and Mediterranean Research Center launched the Alex Cinema website, which includes a huge amount of information on the history of Egyptian cinema. The Exhibition Catalogue issued in 389 pages in English was also launched as part of the celebration. The Catalogue includes rare photos of actors and cinema makers, who had an impact on the seventh art in Alexandria.
Samy Helmy, author of "Alexandrians in Egyptian Cinema" spoke on the content of his book, which he thinks is an attempt to answer the question raised by Youssef Chahine in his film "Alexandria, Why?". He added that the book is a journey through the history of Alexandria from the early ages to the Modern age.
The most distinguished part of the celebration was honoring Alexandrians for their lifelong achievement in Egyptian cinema, namely: Youssef Chahine, Omar Sharif, Shady Abdel Salam, Mohamed Bayoumi, Togo Mizrahi, Tewfik Saleh, Samir Sabry, Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, Mahmoud Qabil, Hind Rustom, Asma El-Bakri, and Behna Films.
On the fringe lines of the celebration, three sessions were held entitled "Shadi Abdel Salam's unfinished work: Akhnaten, el Hisn, el Dandarawiyya", "What is the future of film production in Alexandria, and of Studio Iskandiriyyah?", and finally, "The Jesuit Experience".