Paola Mohammad Mostafa Shafiq has just received an award from the Cairo International Film Festival for a life of artistic achievement. To her fans, she is known as Nadia Lotfi, the soft-spoken, dreamy-eyed beauty who has captivated millions with her sensual innocence and soothing charm for nearly 40 years. Off camera, her down-to-earth demeanour and low-key dedication to humanitarian issues has made her the darling of the nation. She still has a flat in Garden City, but for the past three years, when political turbulence turned this neighbourhood in central Cairo into something of a heavily guarded compound, Nadia Lotfy has been spending the bulk of her time in Mansouriya on the outskirts of Giza. The following is not an interview with Nadia Lotfi, but a selection of her ideas on art, life, politics, and the future: “In my life, I have spent a lot of time in hospital and with the wounded in hospitals. I shot nearly 40 videos about the war in Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon. Early in my acting career, I played the role of Louisa, a woman associated with the Knights Templar. From the director Youssef Chahine, who directed me in the film Salah Al-Din, I learned how to focus on politics in cinema. I remember that in 1967, right after the war, Faten Hamama and I used to discuss the situation a lot in letters. Phone calls were hard to make at the time. Many of my friends are politicians of various leanings, smart people with impeccable insight. I have also met many doctors through my patients and learned much about their profession, what makes people sick, and how to fight illness. I am big on animal rights, was even once chairwoman of the society for the protection of donkeys. Donkeys don't kill one another, and they don't speak ill of one another either. I also love dogs because they are faithful, more faithful than humans. I became a star in the 1960s. My first film was Sultan, featuring Farid Shawqi. I played a journalist in Al-Maghool (The Unknown). Al-Naddarah al-Sawda (Dark Glasses), based on a novel by Ihsan Abdel-Qoddous, was a big hit. I played the role of a playful, careless young woman, who turns serious about her life and starts caring for workers in a factory. I felt a certain bond to my co-star Hamad Mazhar, and he remained such a loyal friend to me, and to all his other friends, until his death. Then I did Abi Fawq al-Shagara (My Father up a Tree) from a script by Saad Wahba and directed by Hussein Kamal. It stayed in the theatres for months, and was at the time the longest-running film in the history of Egyptian cinema. Ramsis Naguib is the one who discovered me. And he is also the one who chose my screen name, which he took from the film La Anam (I Don't Sleep). Nadia Lotfi was the name of the character Faten Hamama played in that film. Then I played Zannouba, the dancer who was in love with Si Essayyed (Yehya Chahine), in Naguib Mahfouz's Bein al-Qasrein (Between the Palaces). She also was in love with Se Essayed's son, played by Abdel-Monem Ibrahim. To play this role I asked Nabil al-Sayyed to coach me, as she grew up in Mohammad Ali Street and taught me how to speak with the right accent, just like country women talk. I am willing to go back to film, but I will need a good script. The script is the most important thing. When I was a child I always went to Arabic films with my father, who loved Arabic films. My mother, being a foreigner, preferred foreign films. Of the new generation, I like Ahmad al-Saqqa and I find Ahmad Helmi to be an amazing comedian. I also like Hend Sabri, who has her own style and method. No one becomes a star unless a bond is created between him and the public. The majority of viewers should find him admirable. I was once described as the ‘European Upper Egyptian' who had made it to stardom. All my days are happy days, because this is the way I want it. I am contented with my life in Kafr Hakim in the country. I treasure my friends, whether they are alive or dead, for they are always alive in my memory. The writer Ahmad Bahaa al-Din, taking about me, said that ‘she sneaks up on you, grows on you, without you ever noticing.' The writer Mostafa Mahmoud, having seen me in Al-Mostahil (The Impossible), a film based on his novel, said that my performance ‘shook the viewers.' Director Hosam al-Din Mostafa said that I was great in sexual roles that are understated, sensual, and non-graphic. The closest friends I have ever had are Saad al-Din Wahba, Samiha Ayyub, Kawthar Shafiq, Salah Zaki, Galal Muawwad, Layla Fawzi, George Sidhum, Samir Sabri, Ahmad Zaki, Soad Hosni, Hussein Kamal, Shadi Abdel-Salam, Anwar Abdel-Malik, and al-Aziz Osman. In music, I am a fan of Omar Khayrat, Farouq Salama, and Ammar al-Shereyi. I love Marcel Khalifa's voice and the blend of sadness and optimism he manages to summon, the way he turns politics into art. I wish we could take Egypt back 4,000 years and hit the reset button. We must learn how to be earnest in what we say and what we do, in our laws and performance. There is no room for fumbling when we are trying to rebuild the country. Comedy is good for the soul, and tragedy can cleanse the mind. Novels are about imagination but also reality. We need fantasy, songs, and poetry, as well as science and technological inventions.”
