Hasan El-Emam

Hassan El-Imam was a prominent Egyptian film director and screenwriter. He wrote and direct around 100 films spanning over five decades. His films achieved high box-office revenues, which made him nicknamed the "Box-office king". Three of his films are included in the list of the 100 best Egyptian films, according to the critics' poll, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the first cinema show in Alexandria (1896-1996). His father passed away after he lost all the wealth he had accumulated. At the time, El-Imam was 17 years old and still in high school, studying at the Frères School in Khurunfish. Despite having no resources other than his writing talent and fluency in French and English, he decided to enter the field of art. He began his artistic career by translating theatrical scripts and monologues by the French playwright Maurice Chevalier. His role model was Youssef Wahbi. Recognizing his linguistic skills and humility in handling simple tasks, Youssef Wahbi took him under his wing as an educated assistant. This led him to eventually transition into cinema. He began his career in the 1940s as an assistant director in a number of films such as Muhammad Ali Street (1944) and Hassan and Hassan (1945). He got his first directing opportunity with his first film Angels in Hell (1947). His films during the 1950s period were characterized by melodrama. He was established as a director during the 1960s as he directed films such as the Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz, The Sin (1962), The Miracle (1962) and Chafika the Copt Girl (1963). His style varied between tragedy, drama and thriller. In the 1970s, his films were dominated by a lyrical and light comedy characters after the tremendous success of Watch Out for ZouZou (1972) and its continuation in theaters for over a year. Hassan Al-Imam discovered and shaped many stars of the golden age of Egyptian cinema. He believed in Hind Rostom's talent, mentored her, and paved her way to stardom by directing three consecutive films, two of which he also produced. Their collaboration continued in the 1960s with two films, ending with Wonders of Time (1974). He also discovered Hussein Fahmy, launching his first leading role in Dalal Al-Masria (1970) after returning from the U.S. Similarly, he introduced Nour El-Sherif in Qasr Al-Shouq (1967) and discovered Zizi El Badrawy. He also introduced Hassan Youssef and Salah Qabil in Midaq Alley (1963).