Tamer Mohsen

A renowned director, screenwriter and producer, Tamer Mohsen's passion for art has been present since his early childhood. At the age of seven, he became entranced with the marionettes that he used to perform the famous operetta El Leila El Kebira. After obtaining a degree in Engineering from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Mohsen had a seven-year-tenure as an Engineer before he pursued his dream. His first works include a play titled Marionnette, which won an award for Best Play at the 4th Free Theater Festival. He also worked as an Assistant Set Designer on the late director Youssef Chahine's film Al Mohager (The Emigrant) (1994) and Al Maseer (Destiny) (1997). Shortly afterwards, he set his sights on a career in cinema, consequently he joined the Higher Institute of Cinema, which led him to write and direct two short films that established him as an up-and-coming director at the time. The two short films are Al Hafla, a winner of the Shady Abdel Salam award at the 7th Egyptian National Film Festival, followed by his graduation project To Wake Up until 07:00 PM that went on to win the Jury Prize at the 18th Egyptian National Film Festival and opened the 3rd Arab Film Festival Rotterdam. The latter film is heavily inspired by screenwriter Wahid Hamed's film Ma'ali Al Wazir (His Excellency the Minister), which was screened in the same edition of the festival. Both films dealt with the concept of nightmares that can change the lives of the main characters. Tamer recalls screenwriter Wahid Hamed's excitement at their first meeting after the screening of his film To Wake Up until 07:00 PM. That meeting eventually led to a close relationship between them that resulted in their professional collaboration later on. In spite of the success of his two short films, Mohsen saw that making documentaries with a storytelling style and dissecting historical facts is the way to establish himself as a true feature film director. This conclusion led him to direct and write a number of documentaries that were considered trailblazers in the Arab world for dealing with historical events using the aspects of entertainment, suspense, reenactment of historical scenes, and mixing between drama and documentary elements. His documentary works include Political Crime: Assassination of Hassan El Banna (2007), Saad Zaghloul - The Leader And His Shadow (2008), and Political Crime: Assassination of Sadat (2009). Bedoon Zikr Asmaa TV series (2013) was Tamer Mohsen's first collaboration with salient screenwriter Wahid Hamed. The series portrays the 1980s from a clear and unbiased political and social point of view. According to Tamer, it took longer to complete than any of his other projects. Two years later, Mohsen directed his debut feature film Ott W Far; another collaboration with Hamed. The film won the Best Debut Film at the Egyptian National Film Festival and the annual Film Society Festival For Egyptian Cinema. During Ramadan 2015, he directed and wrote Taht Al Saytara TV series, which garnered massive support from audiences as it dug deep into the hidden world of drug addicts in Egypt, showing how drugs can drastically change people's lives while educating audiences about drug addiction. The series was honored by many official entities, including the Ministry of Social Solidarity, the National Council for Human Rights, and the Addiction Treatment and Abuse Fund. In 2017, he co-wrote and directed the TV hit Haza Al Masaa (This Evening), a psychological drama where he posed a simple question: is knowing the truth a blessing or a curse? The series showcased the consequences of some people's curiosity and desire to reveal private secrets, and what happens when someone is able to see beyond people's façade of having a perfect life. Tamer won several awards for Haza Al Masaa, including Best TV Series, Best Director and Best Screenplay at the Cinema Syndicate Awards. The series was also honored by the National Council for Human Rights. Mohsen has recently finished directing an episode in the upcoming limited anthology series, Nemra Etneen (Number Two), produced by Shahid.net and starring Egyptian actress Nelly Karim and Lebanese actor Adel Karam. Also, he is shooting a new TV series starring Egyptian star Mona Zaki, which is temporarily titled, Taqato' Toroq (Crossroads). In 2018, Mohsen delivered a free one-day Advanced Filmmaking Master class, organized by Studio ZAT, to pass on his knowledge to emerging filmmakers. He also took part in a panel discussion under the title 'Hollywood Is Here!: Giving Arab Entertainment The American Buzz' within the activities of the Cairo Industry Days during the 40th Cairo International Film Festival. In 2019, he participated in a five-week series of workshops for TV screenwriters at USC School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California (USC). The workshops were held as part of the Middle East Media Initiative (MEMI) that aims to boost the careers of Arabic TV writers and producers from Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.