Al-Masry Al-Youm has republished the last interview made by the TV presenter Mufeed Fawzy with the late Egyptian film icon Faten Hamama, who died 17 January at the age of 83 after suffering from health complications.
When Hamama entered at the hall where I was waiting for her, she was laughing, Fawzy says. I thought she was laughing at me for fearing her dog that started barking at me. She insisted not to allow me in until the dog was put away. Hamama then added that she was watching one of her old movies called ‘Dad Amin’. She remembered that she performed one of her scenes with the late actress Mary Monein seven times saying, “I cannot stop it with Mary Moneib. Her seriousness makes me laugh.”
Mufeed Fawzy: Are you used to watching your movies?
Faten Hamama: Not really. I don’t look for them on TV, but just by coincidence. When I watch a movie to the end, I forget the details and think about it.
Fawzy: You were the first one to say ‘we have been divided’ after the revolution. Do you think the wound of division has healed or changed?
Hamama: There has been brainwashing for youth and older people who did not know where their interests lay. I can say they mixed up between the right and wrong and this created a division, which was the biggest mistake of society. I think the wound has been reduced. Youth are conceived by so many things that come from abroad.
Fawzy: You have always said that you do not take part in a protest but protest through your work.
Hamama: Every human being should speak in his language using his tools. Writers should influence people through what they write. I’m stronger in my field as an actress, through which I can say more than walking on the streets.
Fawzy: Can an actor become a political activist?
Hamama: Probably yes for an actor interested in politics.
Fawzy: Don’t you long for new work?
Hamama: I can’t.
Fawzy: Is it your decision?
Hamama: I made a decision on health grounds. I can’t take part in a new movie or series and without being able to complete it and cause losses to those I work with.
Fawzy: Do you think drama nowadays is being done the right way?
Hamama: Some works surprise us proving that drama is coming back. The number of the series shown in Ramadan is very big that could be distributed among three seasons. It’d be better if the big number be distributed all over the year.
Fawzy: Have you expected to shake hands with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi?
Hamama: I couldn’t see enough. People surrounding me told “the president is talking about you.” All what I remember at that moment is that I said: Impossible. I stood up to meet him when I found him standing right in front of me.
Fawzy: Do you watch talk shows?
Hamama: I sleep early. I wake up at 5 am. Sometimes I wake up at 7 am maximum. So I cannot stay up late at night.
Fawzy: How do you see Sisi?
Hamama: Very smart and has many enemies.
Fawzy: Have you thought about your autobiography?
Hamama: No. My life is mine.
Fawzy: What makes you angry?
Hamama: Stupidity. It’s usually based on ignorance and insistence on viewpoints
Fawzy: Could history be fair with those not whose present was not fair with them?
Hamama: Present was not fair with them. Did we forget who opened the Suez Canal. The Egyptian Khedive Ismail who made so many civilized things to Egypt, but history was not fair with him. So many novels accused him of extravagance.
Fawzy: Do you have few number of friends?
Hamama: To the contrary. So many, but in the past. But when one gets older, his movement gets less. But you know what we are lucky.
Fawzy: Lucky?
Hamama: Yes, we have televisions that bring the world to you at home. However, we have grown apart from each other.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
