Egypt’s Nabila Ebeid: ‘Ihsan Abdel Quddos selects my first movies’

The seventh edition of Aswan International Women Film Festival ( AIWFF) organized a seminar for veteran actress, dubbed Egypt's first star Nabila Ebeid who was honored in the festival's opening ceremony.

The seminar which was moderated by the Aswan International Women Film Festival head Mohamed Abdel Khalek is part of the events of AIWFF's Nut Forum.

Abdel Khalek said: " We are now with an exceptional star in Egyptian cinema. Her movies represent an integral and important part of what we can call women's cinema. Ebeid's films are part of the success of Egyptian cinema and contributed to its spread in the Arab region, we can only compare her to the pioneers of cinema who made a unique effect. Ebeid presented dozens of distinguished films, among them were films within the list of the 100 best films about women."

Abdel Khalek added that Ebeid is one of the important actresses in the Egyptian cinema industry that used to choose her roles and the movies topics carefully.

During the seminar Ebeid said that she used to love cinema since she was a child. " I was raised on the sweet music of Umm Kulthum because my mother used to listen to her iconic songs. I used to go to the cinema frequently because it was nearby, cinema was the only passion that dominated me and all what I thought about was how to be part of the world of cinema."

 The veteran Egyptian star added that late renowned director Atef Salem gave her the first cinematic opportunity through a small role " Mafesh Tafahom" movie but Helmy Rafla provided her with her first leading role in cinema in  "Rabaa Al-Adawiya" movie.

"Rafla said he will test me first. During the test, tears appeared in my eyes because the speech contained a monologue to God. After "Rabaa Al-Adawiya movie I co-stared with Omar Sharif in "The Mamluks" movie, then  my third movie was "Kunouz" with the director Niazi Mustafa, at that time I made a good steps in my career that I wanted to preserve and build on" Ebeid said.

Ebeid added that she owes a lot to great Egyptian writer Ihsan Abdel Quddos who used to help her in the process of selecting her roles.

I was happy when I started to produce my movies then Ihsan Abdel Quddous recommended some of his novels to me to turn them to movies including "Argouk Eiteiny Haza El Dawa'a" ( Please Give Me This Medcine), " La Yazal El Tahkik Mostamer" ( The Investigation Is Still Ongoing), " El Rakesa Wa El Seyasy ( The Dancer and The Politician) and " El Rakesa Wa El Tabal " ( The Dancer and The Drummer).

Ebeid further added that Ahmed Saleh used to say that she is an actress with a compass because she has an inner sense that helps her to differentiate between the good and weak role.

" But I was always obedient to the directors. I worked with Saeed Marzouk in " El Mara'a Wa El Satour" (The Woman and the Cleaver) movie and he loved red and black colors so I bought outfit with these colors. I took the decision to write my memoirs because my life stages contain very useful experiences that the future generations will learn from, especially in the extent of endurance, patience and persistence. I used always to endure a lot as a womsn so that the image of the actress remains as it is, it is enough that I did not become a mother because I devoted myself to my Career" Ebeid said.

Ebeid explained that she worked with Youssef Chahine and learned a lot from him.