Egypt Through the Lens: Stage and screen | History

Egypt Through the Lens is a four-part series that captures how photographers recorded the modern history of Egypt over 150 years – its kings, presidents, politics, conflicts and cinema.

The final episode shows how photographers captured Egypt’s golden age of musical and screen performances in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Photojournalist Samir Ghazouli remembers meeting some of the greatest Egyptian artistes – like legendary singer Umm Kulthum. She sometimes hated the way she looked in photographs because of a thyroid problem – and often bought the original negatives in order to destroy them. Another singing star was Abdel Halim Hafez but he was brutally cut down in his prime by a terminal illness. Hafez carefully managed his PR image after he fell ill, releasing only specially chosen shots that showed his personal pain and suffering. All the photographers in the film talk enthusiastically about the personalities they met and reflect on how the photos they took of these stars – who were famous across the whole of the Arab world – a sense of immortality.