Famous Director David Fincher once said that “people will say there are a million ways to shoot a movie scene, but I don’t think so, I think there are two, maybe and the other one is wrong. There is truly no movie that is not met with criticism because cinema is about adopting different ideas and mind-sets from different people. However, there are directors that bring a uniqueness to their work that allows the audience to feel that this movie cannot be replicated or replaced. Amr Salama has proven to be one of those directors ever since his first movie “ Zay El Nharda”, where he combined a variety of different ideas in a work of art that was met with controversial reactions and praise.
Zal El Nharda “In a Day Like Today” 2008
This was the first movie to be directed and written by Amr Salama and it truly showed that his style of film will be one of a kind in the industry, with big names such as Basma, Ahmed Elfishawy, and Asser Yassin. The plot revolved around a girl who falls in love with a man but they got engaged but then he dies because her drug addicted brother accidentally kills him. Her life gets complicated when she falls in love again but soon realises that the events are being repeated again with her new fiancé.
The cinematography was heavily focused on blue tones which made the audience feel the sadness portrayed in many sides of the relationships in the movie. Amr salama said that the unique plot wasn’t far from home when he revealed he wrote this movie when he was only 21 years old and that it is based on a true love story of his.
Asmaa 2011
This movie was released 9 years ago and I still remember the sounds of people crying their heart out in the cinema theatre while watching it. The movie starred Hend Sabry, Maged El Kedway, and Hany adel and was written and directed by Amr Salama. The movie revolves around a woman who suffers from AIDS but decides to face her reality by helping others who suffer from the same disease. The uniqueness of the movie remains in the changes the audience got to experience in the main character “Asmaa” played by Hend Sabry, where the scenes throughout the movie shifts from past to present to expose the different stages in her life. Amr Salama said that this movie was one of the hardest to experience as he personally couldn’t relate to any of the characters but was determined to show their story and authenticity of their struggles. Making this movie even special as the audience emotionally develops with the characters and sympathises with them as the story progresses. Amr Salama succeeded in making a real movie that portrayed situations, relationships, emotions, and growing characters with a heart wrenching story all in one movie through “Asmaa”.
La Mo’akhza “Excuse My French” 2014
It is usually uncommon to make the main character of a movie a rising kid actor with also a sensitive movie plot but this is Amr Salama we are talking about here. La Mo’akhza was the movie which introduced the actor Ahmed Dash to the cinema industry while also starring Kinda Aloush. The movie plot revolved about Christian kid who is suddenly forced to go to a public school after his father dies and gets misunderstood to be a Muslim which puts him in different situations throughout the movie. Amr Salama made this movie to be a social comedy movie while provoking some ideas that were not that common to be portrayed in the Egyptian cinema. The audience got to see the kid’s journey of trying to adopt a different life other than his identity smoothly in a comedy frame but also digesting the ingrown messages within the movie which is Amr Salama’s speciality.
Sheikh Jackson 2017
The movie plot goes back to Michal Jackson death in 2009 where a very religious man gets triggered to his old life because of this news as he used to be a fan of Michal Jackson when he was young. The movie was a trip of this Sheikh finding his true identity after being caught up in his memories. The movie starred Ahmed El Fishawy, Ahmed Malek, Maged El Kedwany, Amina Khalil, and Dorra. The movie deeply exposed the stages people go through while testing their beliefs and to what extent can these beliefs contradict their actions. The message of the movie does not only remain as the basis of the movie but with the way it was narrated. By building layers throughout the movie with the characters, situations, and the complex emotions that made the audience feel lost just like the main character. Before the movie got released people were curious to know the relation between Michal Jackson the star of pop and a Sheikh living in Egypt but after watching the movie many people said it was a brave despite it being good or bad. It was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2017 Toronto International Movie Festival and was selected as the Egyptian entry for the Best Foreign Language Movie at the 90th Academy Awards. Many of people are now waiting for Amr Salama’s next project Ma Waraa Altabe’a “Paranormal” that should be the first Egyptian series to be produced by Netflix. The series plot is adopted from Ahmed Tawfik novel carrying the same name and starring Ahmed Amin, Razane Jammal, and Aya Samaha. The project is known to be in the pre-production stage now.
We can’t wait to see what he does next.
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