Wahid Hamed’s 1st Death Anniversary Today

Today marks the first death anniversary of iconic Egypt's writer Wahid Hamed, who is fondly known as the godfather of realist Egypt's cinema.

Hamed, the Arab world-famous Egyptian screenwriter who died early 2021, was born on 1 July 1944 in Sharqia Governorate, the countryside city considered the cradle of Eastern art and literature during the Middle Ages.

He moved to Cairo in 1963 where he started his college studies at Cairo University, in the field of Sociology and then he got married to Zeinab Sweidan with whom he had his son, Marwan the talented director.

Furthermore, Hamed established his writing career in the late 1960s after completing his university degree in sociology.

The film “Ahlam Elfata Altayer” (Dreams of the Fly Boy) (1978) dubbed his long-time collaboration with iconic actor Adel Imam and is considered his advanced movie script.

Hamed was one of the most successful, rare Egyptian screenwriters, with over 40 films and 30 television series to his name, according to critics.

Hamed is well-known for some of his seminal works, such as the Al-Ghoul (1983), El-Le’eb Maa El-Kobar (1991), Al-Baree’(1985), Toyour El-Zalam (1995), and the screenplay for the critically acclaimed ‘The Yacoubian Building’ (2006), which Hamed’s son, Marwan Hamed, directed.

Moreover, he is known for joint collaborations and associations with legendary Egyptian actresses like Yousra and Elham Shahin.

Yosra, 71, described Hamed as a “combination of kindness and strength” and said he was “The crown of my head.”

He was the first Egyptian screenwriter to receive the Golden Pyramid Award for lifetime achievement in the cinema field in its new form, the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the Egyptian government, in 2020, a quarter of a century after the prizes’ s founding.

Earlier last year, Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) honored the legend Egyptian screenwriter Hamed at the opening ceremony of its 42nd edition, held in December, with the Golden Pyramid Award for Lifetime Achievement for a career that spanned over five decades.

Hamed’s works have won numerous awards in festivals locally and internationally. Two of his iconic films were picked for the acclaimed list of the best 100 Egyptian films in the 20th century; Sherif Arafa’s “Al-Laab Maa al-Kobar” (Playing with Giants, 1991) and Atef El-Tayeb’s “Al-Baree” (The Innocent, 1985). The list was based on a survey of Egyptian critics under the supervision of the late Saad Eddin Wahba, president of CIFF’s 20th edition.

”I am sure that Hamed was the first  Egyptian screenwriter, as far as I can remember, to attend such higher events like that,” says Mr. Mohamed Hefzy, CIFF’s current director. “Hamed had a sense of himself that he could fit in wherever he desired.”

Hamid was also cited as the father of the modern classic approach in Egyptian movies and TV series. His death at 77 on 2 January 2020 left a gap in the Arab art world.

Unfortunately, Hamed died of a heart attack in El Sheik Zaied hospital, where he was being treated for bronchitis.