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Al-Ahram Weekly

Sameh Abdel-Aziz (1976-2025): Gone too soon

To the shock of his friends and colleagues, the Egyptian director Sameh Abdel-Aziz passed away last Thursday at the age of 49. He had been briefly hospitalised with a sudden health issue. Social media was filled with touching tributes. Abdel-Aziz was born in Cairo in 1976, and graduated from the High Cinema Institute's editing department in 1996. He started his career directing television programmes in the Egyptian National Television and moved to the Dream private television channel where he directed shows like Gana Al-Hawa and Al-Hawa Hawana (named after love songs by Abdel-Halim Hafez) while Hala Sarhan was president. He even moved along with Sarhan to Rotana TV, directing music videos. Only later did he shift to filmmaking. His debut feature film was Dars Khosousi (A Private Lesson, 2005), with the Star Academy winner Mohamed Attia. He also directed the film Assad wi Arbaa Qotat (A Lion and Four Cats, 2007), starring Hani Ramzi and the Four Cats. He collaborated with screenwriter Ahmed Abdallah on two films: Cabaret (2008), starring Fathi Abdel-Wahab, Khaled Al-Sawi, Ahmed Bedeir and Donia Samir Ghanem; Al-Farah (The Wedding, 2009), starring Khaled Al-Sawi, Donia Samir Ghanem, Joumana Mourad, Yasser Galal, Bassem Samra and Maged Al-Kedwani. The latter had an original and distinctive plot in which Zeinhom (played by Al-Sawi) holds a fake wedding party for his supposed sister so that he can collect money through the Egyptian tradition of noqta (wedding attendees giving the bride money to help with the expenses, which the bride's family will presumably return when it is time for their respective weddings), so that he can buy a microbus. The wedding turns into a condolence ceremony when his mother unexpectedly dies. Abdel-Aziz joined forces with comedy star Mohamed Heneidi in various productions on the silver screen: Teta Rahiba (My Tough Grandmother, 2012), starring the late veteran actress Samiha Ayoub, Bassem Samra, Donia Samir Ghanem and Mohamed Farrag with a screenplay by Youssef Maati; Monsieur Ramadan Mabrouk Abul-Alamein Hamouda (2011), starring Nesrine Imam, Karima Mukhtar, Laila Taher and Nihal Anbar with another screenplay by Maati; Ard Al-Nifaq (Land of Hypocrisy, 2018), starring Dalal Abdel-Aziz, Hana Shiha, Mohamed Tharwat and Salwa Mohamed Ali; and – last Ramadan – Shehadet Moamlet Atfal (Child Treatment Certificate, 2025), starring Sabri Fawaz, Sama Ibrahim, Noha Abdeen and Walid Fawaz. On the silver screen, Abdel-Aziz directed Sarkhet Namla (An Ant's Cry, 2011), a political comedy about a slum dweller named Gouda who works for a corrupt member of parliament, starring Amr Abdel-Geleil, Rania Youssef, Ahmed Wafik, Sayed Ragab and Hamdi Ahmed with a screenplay by Tarek Abdel-Geleil. In 2013, Abdel-Aziz joined forces with Mohamed Saad in the comedy Tatah and a year later he directed Viva Atatta where Saad starred alongside Amy Samir Ghanem, Sami Al-Adl, Abdel-Rahman Abu-Zahra and Ahmed Fathi. In 2014 he directed Halawet Rouh (Rouh's Beauty), starring Lebanese singer Haifaa Wahbi with Bassem Samra, Mohamed Lotfi and Salah Abdallah. One of his more remarkable works was the comedy Hamlet Freezer (Freezer Mission, 2016), starring Hisham Maged, Shiko, Bayoumi Fouad, Nesrin Amin and Darin Haddad. The film follows a group of intelligence officers who travel to Italy as a film crew to collect information on how to stop the frost after Egypt climate changes and it turns into a cold country. With a screenplay by Walaa Sherif in collaboration with the two actors Hisham Maged and Shiko. In television he collaborated with megastar Youssra in Kheyanet Ahd (Betrayal of a Covenant), where she starred alongside with Hala Shiha, Abeer Sabri and Bayoumi Fouad in 2020, and a year later in Harb Ahleya (Civil War), starring Bassel Khayat, Gamila Awad, Arwa Gouda and Cynthia Khalifeh. His most recent work for the silver screen were the two 2014 comedies Al-Malika (The Queen), starring Sherine Reda, Rania Youssef, Bassem Samra and Hala Sedki and Leilet Al-Eid (The Eid Night), starring Youssra, Sayed Ragab, Reham Abdel-Ghaffour, Youssra Al-Louzi, Naglaa Badr and Ahmed Khaled Saleh with a screenplay by Ahmed Abdallah as well as the film Al-Dashash (2025), starring Mohamed Saad, Zeina, Bassem Samra, and Khaled Al-Sawy. He is survived by his wife the media figure Dalia Farag. He was married to the singer and actress Roubi for two years and they had a daughter together. * A version of this article appears in print in the 17 July, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link: