Prominent Egyptian director Marwan Hamed, known internationally for his groundbreaking epic “The Yacoubian Building,” shot “The Woman,” a biographical film about Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum, considered the greatest singer in the Arab world.
Kulsoum has also been praised by Bob Dylan and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, among other Western artists, and sampled by Beyoncé and Shakira.
Hamed’s new film with global ambitions, out now, features Egyptian star Mona Zaki playing the singer born in the Nile Delta village of Tamai, who from the late 1920s onwards became the first Arab singer to take her work to the masses. Through the new technologies of the era: radio, phonograph, cinema, and television.
In the process, Kulsoum recorded some 300 songs over the course of her 60-year career, while conquering millions of fans and shattering gender norms with her powerful and often politically charged music.
An 18-minute sneak peek of footage from “The Six” – co-produced by Egypt’s Synergy Films, Film Square, Film Clinic and Saudi film fund Big Time Investment – will be revealed during the upcoming Atlas Workshops taking place during Morocco’s Marrakesh Film Festival, which opens today.
diverse I spoke to Hamed about what Kulsoum represents beyond her amazing singing and why she is still timely and relevant today.
It is clear that Umm Kulthum is the greatest singer in the Arab world. But it also carries a lot of symbolic significance. She is a Muslim artist who was able to overcome all sexual, religious, political and national barriers. Tell me about what aspects of her story and personality does “The Woman” touch upon?
The most interesting thing about the movie is basically: How did this little girl who was dressed as a boy in a very poor village become this icon? This is the main aspect. It’s not just about her success in music, but also: how did she become a female icon? That’s really what the movie is about. Her transformation and struggle with society, and how she changed the way it looked at her, until she rose, and her nickname in the Arab world became Al-Sitt, meaning “The Lady.” That’s why we chose “The Six” as the title of the film. It is her nickname in the Arab world. But at the same time, it really represents her journey. While doing our research, we realized she did amazing things!
What are some of the most important aspects of Umm Kulthum’s journey?
For example, she was one of the first women to be elected to the (Arab) Musicians Syndicate. She won that fight, which was something that wasn’t common at the time, in the mid-1940s. I’ve also really challenged society when it comes to marriage and family, and this whole tradition of pressure that society puts on women, and this kind of conflict — how can I call it — between career and family. What’s amazing about her is that she made her own choices. People you believe in. No matter what anyone else thinks she should do. This is very important, and I think it’s the most powerful thing I’ve ever done. She made her own choices, and she made it in a society that didn’t live that way. Whether it was her village community or the monarchy, or post-revolution, post-1952, Egypt.
Tell me more about the female empowerment elements in the film
I mean, she had her moments at every twist and turn of the societal changes of the time. At the same time, it exercised a lot of political influence. When you look at her story today — and put it in the context of today’s world — you’ll find a lot of parallels to draw on. That’s what’s interesting about her story, you can really relate it to the present. So, the narrative follows this in a way, in a somewhat non-linear way.
What about the character of Umm Kulthum?
We explored her inner fears, because this is something she and many others have talked about. Many people have this distant impression of her because she is always filmed in long shots from afar on stage, projecting a certain (distant) image that she deliberately tried to maintain. But the film is also a great opportunity to delve into her inner fears, because she wasn’t superwoman. She had her fears, and it wasn’t easy to achieve what she did.
He talked to me about working with Mona Zaki, which of course came after the recent success of the female empowerment thriller “Flight 404,” which competed in Egypt for an Oscar and traveled outside the region.
This is a very difficult role and needs someone with Mona’s abilities. She gives a powerful performance that I think will have a very strong emotional impact on the audience. In terms of preparation, Mona underwent an entire year of singing lessons, movement lessons, dialect training, and a lot of makeup training. She had to sit in the (makeup) chair for six hours every day before the cameras rolled. It’s a very demanding role because you’re not just focusing on one period of Umm Kulthum’s life, you’re moving back and forth between a lot of different moments. This in itself is very difficult, because Umm Kulthum changes a lot. When you really break this character down, it’s not just one character, because the changes they go through are huge. Mona has given her all, put in a lot of hard work, and I truly believe the end result will resonate strongly.
There is of course an Arab element in the film. But Umm Kulthum had fans all over the world. How was this portrayed in the movie?
In 1967, Umm Kulthum gave her only show in Europe at the Olympia Theater in Paris. We see her in the film when she is seventy years old, performing in Paris in front of a large crowd. It was a very hot political moment, after the 1967 (Arab-Israeli) war. This tells you how influential it is. I always think about that moment: the war had broken out in June, and here she was in November performing in Europe at a rather advanced age. This really tells you how influential it is and how powerful it is. And it still is.
less: The first photo of the movie “The Woman”
Courtesy of Film Clinic