19 - 25 April 2001
Issue No.530
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 April 2001 Issue No.530 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Olympia and other cinemas
Following my stint at Cinema Beit Al-Qadi (the subject of this column last week), I relocated to more modern venues, showing newer, better films, like Cinema Olympia and Cinema Ideal. This was a major step forward for me.
I loved cinema so much I actually bought a little cinema comprising a candle-operated projector: rapt, my friends and I would switch off the lights and watch the images flickering on one wall. The films were bought outside Cinema Olympia, I remember. When I started going there, it was my first experience of being part of a culturally oriented group, which opened my eyes to various disciplines besides cinema, including literature and art. I recall clearly that little film shop, its owner sitting quietly inside it, just like somebody who sells books.
None of this survives now. When I compare those films with the videos and CD-ROMs of today, I reflect how simple and basic my own equipment was in comparison. Yet it excited me, I suspect, more than its present-day counterparts excite the young men and women of the present era. And there is so much I remember. Moscow, a popular comedy, is so vivid in my mind I could actually have watched it yesterday, believe it or not. That was an important film -- the cult classic of my generation.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
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