Country: Egypt
Year: 1969
Duration: 105'
Egyptian and Soviet engineers and workers collaborate on the construction of the Aswan Dam. The story of one of the most important projects of the 20th century is also the story of men and women from different countries and cultures. Stories of voyages, friendships and new adventures, of farewells, far-away families, memories and nostalgia.
"Al Nilwa al hayat may be the only film in the history of world cinema that has been directed twice (in 1969 and in 1972) by the same director with the same title, using the negatives from the first version, taken from the positive copy, to make the second (…). In 1968, when the film was projected for the first time to a limited audience, it was violently attacked by the critics and the officials of the State cinema, who found that it was mortifying for Egypt and Egyptians (…) The second version was projected with the same title in 1972. But Yusuf Shahin had kept the only existing copy of the first version and had sent it to the Film Library in Paris. In 1992 he made a new copy of the film, entitledAl Nil wa al hayat (The Nile and Life), which was projected in France" (Samir Farid).
Biography
film director
Yusuf Shahin
Yusuf Shahin (1926). Director, producer, author and actor, after graduation from Victoria College in Alexandria, he got his diploma from Pasadena institute in the United States. He won the Career Grand Prize at the Festival in Carthage in 1970, the Special Jury Prize at the Festival of Berlin in 1979 for his film Iskindiriyya…Leh (Alexandria Why) and was awarded the Medal of the State for the Arts in Egypt in 1994. He was awarded the Golden Palm for Career Achievements at the 50th Cannes Festival.
FILMOGRAFIA
Baba Amin (Papà Amin, 1950), Ibnu al Nil (Il figlio del Nilo, 1951), Al muharrigiu al kabir (Il grande buffone, 1952), Sayyidatu al qittar (La signora del treno, 1952), Nisa'un bila ragiul (Donne senza uomini, 1953), Sira'un fi al wadi (Lotta nella valle, 1954), Sira'un fi al minà (Lotta nel porto, 1956 ), Inta habibi (Tu sei il mio amore, 1957), Bab el hadid (Stazione centrale, 1958), Giamila al giazairiyya (Giamila l'algerina, 1958), Hubb ila al abad (Amore fino alla fine, 1959), Ben idek (Tra le tue mani, 1960), Nida'u al u'shaq (Il richiamo degli innamorati, 1960), Ragiul fi hayati (Un uomo nella mia vita, 1961), Al Nasser… Salahu Al Din (Saladino, 1963), Fajr yawm giadid (L'alba di un nuovo giorno, 1965), Biyya'u al khawatim (Il venditore di anelli, 1965), Rimal min dhahab (Sabbie d'oro, 1966), Id al Mayrun (La festa di Mayrun, cm, 1967), Al ard (La terra, 1969), Al ikhtiyar (La scelta, 1970), Al Nil wa al hayat (Il Nilo e la vita, 1969), Al ussfur (Il passero, 1973), Awdat al ibnu al dhal (Il ritorno del figlio prodigo, 1976), Iskindiriyya… leh? (Alessandria... perché?, 1978), Hadduta missriyya (Un racconto egiziano, noto anche come La memoria, 1982), Al wada'u ya Bonapart (Addio Bonaparte, 1985), Al yawm al sadis (Il sesto giorno, 1986), Iskindiriyya kaman we kaman (Alessandria ancora e sempre, 1990), El Qahira minawwara bi ahlaha (Il Cairo illuminato dalla sua gente, cm, 1991), Al muhager (L'emigrante, 1994), Al akhawen Lumière (I fratelli Lumière, episodio di Lumière et compagnie, 1996), Al massir (Il destino, 1997), Al akhar (L'altro, 1998), Sukut hanssawwar (Silenzio si gira, 2001).
Cast
& Credits
Director: Yusuf Shahin.
Screenplay: Nikolai Vikroski, Hasan Fu'ad.
Director of photography: Abdu Al Aziz Fahmi.
Art director: Maher Abdu Al Nurr.
Editor: Rashida Abdu Al Salam.
Sound: Hasan Al Tuni.
Music: Aram Khaciadorian.
Cast and characters: Salah Zul Fiqar (Yahia), Izzat Al Alaili (Amin), Mahmud Al Miligi, Seif Al Din.
Production company and Italian distribution: Ente Generale del Cinema.
Screenplay: Nikolai Vikroski, Hasan Fu'ad.
Director of photography: Abdu Al Aziz Fahmi.
Art director: Maher Abdu Al Nurr.
Editor: Rashida Abdu Al Salam.
Sound: Hasan Al Tuni.
Music: Aram Khaciadorian.
Cast and characters: Salah Zul Fiqar (Yahia), Izzat Al Alaili (Amin), Mahmud Al Miligi, Seif Al Din.
Production company and Italian distribution: Ente Generale del Cinema.