Kamal Sultan talks to screen idol Hussein Fahmi about his new film, his recent television show and the Cairo Film Festival Hussein Fahmi is one of Egypt's leading film actors and a familiar face on television. He starred in the television dramas Hawanem Garden City (Ladies of Garden Cities), Al-Shared (The Drifter), Mowaten Be Daraget Wazir ( Citizen on Ministerial Level), Awlad Al-Akaber (Sons of Dignitaries), Haq Mashroua (Lawful Right), and Qatel Bela Agr (Unpaid Killer), for which he won the best actor award in the current Arab Media Festival, now held in Cairo. I met Fahmi during a banquet held in his honour by the Cairo Lions Club on a Nile boat. Also present at the event were the other stars of the show: Farouk El-Fishawi, Leqaa Sweidan, Youssef Fawzi and Menna Fadali, as well as the show's writer Mustafa Moharram and its director, Rabab Hussein. Fahmi was born on 22 March 1940 to a wealthy family in Cairo. After graduating from the Higher Cinema Institute, he went to California to study filmmaking. Back in Egypt, his acting career took off with such zest that he never had the time to explore his potential as a director. So far Fahmi has starred in 112 films. The first was Dalal Al-Masriya (Dalal of Egypt) with Nadia Lotfi in 1969. Since then he has acted with Sabah in Nar Al-Shawq (Fire of Yearning), with Soad Hosni in Khalli Balak Min Zuzu (Watch Out for Zuzu), with Soheir Ramzi in Al-Muznibun (The Guilty), with Naglaa Fathi in Agmal Ayyam Hayati (The Best Years of My Life), with Mervat Amin in Hafiya Ala Bahr Al-Zahab (Barefoot on the Sea of Gold), with Madiha Kamel in Bariqu Aynayk (The Glow in Your Eyes), with Nadia El-Guindi in Hekmat Fahmi, with Nour El-Sherif in Al-Aar (Shame), with Adel Imam in Al-Leib Maa Al-Kobar (Big Time Games), and with Ahmed Zaki in Mawaed Ala Al-Ashaa (Dinner Appointment). Fahmi's last film appearance was with Nabila Ebeid in Qasaqis Al-Ishq (Shreds of Passion) in 2001. He is coming back to the big screen with Lamh Al-Basar (In the Blink of an Eye), which will be released within weeks. His co-stars in Lamh Al-Basar are Ahmed Hatem, Mona Hala, Haitham Said, Maysara, and the late Shawqi Shamekh. The film is written by Nabil Shoeib and directed by Youssef Hisham, who won a special award for this film at the Alexandria Film Festival. I asked Fahmi whether he expected to win an award for his most recent television show. "I was very pleased with the good reaction to Qatel Bela Agr, although it was released in Ramadan along with more than 60 other shows," he said. "It is this practice of releasing so many shows in Ramadan that needs to be reconsidered, since it is unfair to some really good shows." In Qatel Bela Agr, Fahmi plays the character of an internationally renowned Egyptian doctor. "I liked the role, because I saw some similarities between myself and the character. And I loved the script written by Mustafa Moharram. I also had great faith in the brilliant director Rabab Hussein. As for winning an award for the role, I am not one of those who like to speculate about success. I don't expect to get an award for anything I do. If I get one, I am thrilled of course. What matters to me most is a good public reaction, and this is the best reward." Fahmi said that he was pleased to see the significant improvement in Syrian and Gulf-based drama. "This is an incentive for us in Egypt to improve our drama. I don't consider the festival an arena for rivalry. We complement one another and benefit from the experiences of others." Asked why the Cairo Film Festival failed to attract good Egyptian films, Fahmi, a past president of the festival, replied quickly. "When I was the festival president it was my opinion that we choose at least one Egyptian film, even if it didn't live up to the required standards -- the best of the bad, if you will." The decision to participate in any film festival is up to the producer, Fahmi says. For example, when the Ministry of Culture produced Al-Musafir (The Traveller), it could have submitted it to the Cairo Festival, but it preferred to send it to the Venice Festival. The Cairo Festival was consequently denied the opportunity to showcase a film starring Omar Sharif. "Now it is hard to blame other producers for doing the same," he said. The real problem facing a film festival is money. The financial awards from the Cairo Festival are modest in comparison with similar events. When Fahmi was its president, the festival's budget was LE200,000 ($36,000), compared with $7 million for the Marrakech Film Festival. Fahmi asked for donations from businessmen to bring the budget up to LE2.5 million ($450,000), but even that was insufficient. "I have always said that we need more money to hire good organisers," he said. "The director of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival is a highly-paid American national, and he was able within a very short period to turn it into a spectacular event." I asked Fahmi if he approved of the Ministry of Culture's involvement in film production, as was the case in Al-Musafir. He said that the best thing the ministry could do was to go into partnership with private producers. "I am against the ministry producing its own films. This is not the right way to save the film industry. As far as I know, Al-Musafir cost LE20 million. The ministry could have used that money to help with four films. It could have given LE4 million to private producers to fund films costing LE8 million each. This way, the ministry would have financed more than one film every year." Fahmi says Fi Lamh Al-Basar, his new film, is based on a short story by Naguib Mahfouz. "It is a story about the evil and the good in every man's soul. I am pleased with my role in the film and with my cooperation with young and promising actors such as Ahmed Hatem and Mona Hala. Also it was a pleasure to work with Youssef Hisham, who won an award at the Alexandria Film Festival for his direction of the film. The film was screened recently at the Damascus Film Festival, and will be released in cinemas in the mid-term school vacation." Fahmi has presented a talk show called Ana wal Hayah (Life and I), first on state-run television and then on Hayat TV. For him it was a rewarding experience. "I don't see myself as a television presenter. I presented humanitarian cases on television in the hope that those involved would get help or that the public would benefit from their experience. I was able to help many of my guests, and I've brought up issues that the Egyptian media had avoided up to then." I asked Fahmi if he thought the television drama Wekalet Attiya was too out-of-the-ordinary for public taste, as its director Raafat El-Mihi has suggested. Fahmi had not read El-Mihi's remarks, but he said the show was indeed meant for the general public, not for a special category of viewers. "I believe the show needs to be screened outside the month of Ramadan, at a time when people are not inundated with new shows," he said. "The show was an epic work written by the great novelist Khairi Shalabi, and will get more attention in the replay." On a lighter note, I asked Fahmi if his wife, actress Leqaa Sweidan, was jealous of his fans. "When it comes to fans and jealousy, we are both quite rational. I trust her totally and she reciprocates that trust," and he gave that winning smile.
