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Burned down studio in Giza
Photo: Khaled Elfiqi / EPA
A fire broke out in one of the oldest film studios in Egypt and the Arab world on Saturday night.
"The studio was destroyed," a state news site said in a report, according to CNN.
The flames destroyed the Al-Ahram studio, built in 1944, in the Giza region west of the capital Cairo and spread to three neighboring buildings, security sources said.
Accordingly, there were no casualties and the affected houses were evacuated in good time.
Egypt was once a film giant
According to local media, the fire broke out after the filming of a television series to be broadcast during the current fasting month of Ramadan.
This period traditionally sees the highest viewing figures in Egypt and the Arab world.
The Al-Ahram studio spanned 27,000 square meters and housed three film sets, a projection room and an editing room.
In the 1950s, Egypt was considered the third largest film producer in the world; today around three quarters of Arab film production is made here.
However, the number of films produced fell to just 21 in 2022 in the wake of the worst economic crisis in the country's history.
jpz/AFP