In celebration of the corporation that, well, made Egyptian cinema a real industry, director Mona Assaad will be showing the film that marked her solo directorial debut 'Fee Studio Masr' this Friday at Zaywa Cinemas. The documentary takes us on a journey through time and fiction, following the history of Egyptian cinema where Studio Masr stood at its centre for decades.

The 1935 studio was the cinema project of Banque Misr, which was nationalized during the Nasser administration and then offered up for privatization in 2000. A team of young cinema lovers then signed a 20-year lease with the government, vowing to modernize the studio which was then in terrible condition. Fifteen years later, Assaad sat them down to recap their accomplishments and feats of the project, before releasing their stories as a documentary in 2018.

Mona Assaad was originally a medical researcher when she discovered the magical world of cinema after working as a medical support on the set of Youssef Chahine’s 'Adieu Bonaparte' (1984). She embarked on her cinematic journey in 1996, when she worked as an assistant director under Radwan El-Kashef as well as Yousry Nasrallah. Since then, she has become the executive producer for Studio Masr productions like 'El Banat Dol', which went on to become a Cannes 2006 Official Selection. Will you be getting a ticket to see Fee Studio Masr? Let us know in the comments below.