Christopher Hampton Recalls Memories in Alexandria

On Friday, legendary award-winning scriptwriter Sir Christopher Hampton held a wonderful open discussion moderated by CIFF President Mohamed Hefzy.

Hampton started his talk with remembering his time in Alexandria and Egypt. He recalled his life in Egypt before Nasser’s decision of nationalizing Suez Canal and after it.

Also, he reviewed the transformation of the city from very loving one to very strange one, asserting that he wrote 2 works concerning his childhood including “White Chameleon.”

Next, he revealed that he visited Egypt 10 years ago and wished to have a screenplay about Alexandria.

After that, the writer talked about various details regarding the Art of adaptation and how he succeeded in observing the best of every work, revealing that he likes to write a screenplay as well as Doing theater stage work.

Furthermore, the writer underscored that his love for writing comes naturally although he takes him many years to finish a work.

Therefore, he narrated some situations he faced through his career such as having more than one producer for the same work, or decreasing the number of the script pages.

One of his unforgettable moments was when he recalled his memories with “Danger Method” that depicted the life between Karl Jung and Sigmund Freud. He mentioned that he was invited to a discussion at Psycho Analytics board.

Regarding his Oscar victory, he expressed that he lived difficult years during this event and he wrote the best of his screenplays which never saw the light.

Also, he discussed some techniques in backstage world such as lights, enriching the scenes of the sea, the art of metaphors, and he how overcame difficult situations he faced.

Finally, he expressed that everyone and every writer needs to open their eyes, “What happens in life is more beautiful that what is in fiction.”

It is worthy to mention that Hampton answered SEE questions related to his "White Chameleon."

The first one was about the scene of Ibsen's "Enemy of the People" scene in the play. He expressed that "Enemy of the People" was the first play he watched and he was mesmerized by such experience.

The second one was regarding opening the play with Cavafy's poem, "God that Abandon Antony." He answered, "because the poem is really beautiful. Antony loved Alexandria." Antony loves the city and then he loses it after being defeated in his final battle. However, it is living inside his soul.

This seminar was the first one of Cairo Industry Days events that are hold on the side lines of Cairo International Film Festival.