Only 5 cinematic works are the outcome of the career of the Egyptian director Kamel Abu Zekry, which she started in the early nineties of the last century as an assistant director, before presenting her first experience with the movie “First Year Monument” in 2004, to continue her work later.

But she gained her wider and greater fame in the world of television drama, during which she presented thorny and important issues, and this was helped by her resort to the novels of great writers such as Bahaa Taher, Sanalla Ibrahim and Fathia al-Assal.

In view of the distinction of Kamla Abu Zekry as an important filmmaker, the upcoming 44th Cairo Film Festival announced that she had won the Faten Hamama Excellence Award.

The lack of the Egyptian director’s work in cinema - in contrast to her popularity on television - made festival president Hussein Fahmy confirm in local statements that she is “a talented director who has an imprint in every work she directed and supervised its manufacture, so she should be honored by a festival that appreciates art and supports its makers, not only in Egypt. But all over the world."

This honor made Kamla Abu Zekri retract the idea of ​​retiring after the state of frustration that she experienced in the recent period, which she confirmed in an intervention with the "Sitters Don't Know They Lie" program, that the honor came as a push to complete her career and undo the decision to retire.

Distinguished Cinematographer

Despite the popularity of Kamel Abu Zekry on television, she provided important experiences in the world of cinema as well, especially as she was apprenticed at the hands of senior directors with whom she worked as an assistant, such as director Nader Jalal, with whom she worked in the films “131 Ashghal” and “Hassan Al-Lul”, as well as She worked with director Radwan El-Kashef in the movie "The Magician".

She presented her first films, "The First Year of Monument", which is one of the most famous youth experiences in the early 2000s, starring Ahmed Ezz, Khaled Selim, Nour and Dalia El Behairy, and its revenues at that time exceeded 5 million pounds.

As for her later experience, her mark as a director was more evident through the movie “King and Writing” with the artist Mahmoud Hamida and Hend Sabry, for which she won a number of awards from the Catholic Festival. and best actor.

In 2006, Kamila Abu Zekry moved to a different experience through a romantic movie that is very complex in feelings and social structures, the movie "On Love and Passion", written by Tamer Habib, and co-starring Ahmed El-Sakka, Tariq Lotfy, Bushra, Menna Shalaby and Mona Zaki, and in the film she was The seeds of her interest in women through female characters who suffer from crises as a result of social conditions.

But this appeared more in her subsequent movie "One Zero" in 2009, where she presented a set of different women's experiences, including the exploitation of girls in the world of fame, and the Christian woman trying to change her religion in order to obtain a divorce.

The film "One Zero" won many awards from different film festivals in one year, including: the Best Director award from the Dubai Film Festival, and the Best Film and Best Director and Script award from the National Egyptian Film Festival.

In the film, Kamel Abu Zekry's capabilities as a filmmaker seemed clear and distinct, in terms of her intense experience in managing actors, especially since the work belongs to the type of collective championship films, as well as the presence of different generations, so her smart choices emerged to accommodate the appropriate artists in the characters they are good at, which is the skill that She also appeared in her last cinematic experience in 2016, which is the movie "A Day for Women", in which she also presented a group of stories of women from a popular area and their dream of a swimming pool.

Kamla Abu Zekry was able to hire actress Nahid El Sebaei in the role of a girl suffering from mental retardation, a role that won the latter the Best Actress Award from the Cairo Film Festival, and she chose Ilham Shaheen in the character of "model drawing", who is stabbed by others in her honor while she is still a virgin and waiting Marriage to the one she loves despite her age, and the character of Nelly Karim, who is exposed to domestic violence because of her brother who imposes his control on her.

"A Day for Women" also won many awards from local and international festivals, including the Audience Award for Best Film at the Arab Film Festival in "Rotterdam" in the Netherlands, and the Best Long Film Award at the Verona African Film Festival in Italy, and other awards.

In addition to the five films directed by Kamila Abu Zekry, she was among the directors who presented one of the 10 short films called "18 Days", and her film was called "The Creation of Our Lord", after the January 25, 2011 revolution.

Very popular on TV

Kamela received many awards for her limited cinematic works, but in return she was able to achieve a wider audience popularity and greater viewership on television, in addition to a number of awards she received for the 6 series she directed during the past years.

The Egyptian director paid attention to women's problems, and presented different images and styles of work, most of which were melodramatic and emotional social stories.

She presented her first dramatic experience in 2009, through "Sitcom" called "6 Tahrir Square", but at that time it did not shed light on her experience on television, especially since her skills as a director capable of making the stardom of her actors were greater with her experience in the series "Bint Her Name That In 2013, based on the novel by the writer Sanallah Ibrahim, and the script was written by the author Maryam Naoum.

During which she presented the entire life of an Egyptian woman on an extended journey during the time of 3 presidents of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat and Muhammad Hosni Mubarak, and monitored the changes that occurred in society during these various stages and their impact on the middle class in Egypt.

In the series, Kamel was able to achieve an artistic breakthrough for Nelly Karim, which made her one of the stars of television dramas in Ramadan, which is credited to her in terms of her ability to manage the actors and highlight their distinguished performance.

This is what also appeared in her next series, "Women's Prison", which is based on the novel by Fathia Al-Assal. The script was written by Hala Al-Zughandi, during which she monitored stories of the world of women inside the prison, and the injustice that women are subjected to, which leads them to the world of crime.

These are the works that achieved the fame of Nelly Karim, who did not achieve the same success on television except with Kamila Abu Zekry, as her experiences without her did not enjoy the same reputation.

In 2017, the Egyptian director decided to take on a different television adventure, not only at the level of the story she chose by Bahaa Taher, but also succeeded in her series "Sunset Oasis" at the level of image, montage and clothing, presenting a time period dating back to the time of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani.

But then she decided to completely change the style of her work, and turn into a different artistic area that also guaranteed her a larger fan base, when she presented the series “Ba 100 Wush”, a light comedy starring Nelly Karim and Aser Yassin, shown in 2020, and the series was able to top viewers in The time of its presentation and serious business compete for viewership.

The series emphasized Abu Zekri's strong skill in making actors star, especially the new faces, including Islam Ibrahim, Sherif Desouki and Donia Maher.

Her last experiences during the Ramadan season in 2022 were with the series "Baltoo Al-Rouh", through which she returned to women's experiences, but with a different angle about their recruitment by the Islamic State (ISIS) and how their lives are transformed, and revealed many facts and secrets about the suffering experienced by "ISIS women". ".

Thus, Kamla Abu Zekry became, with few works - whether at the level of cinema or even television - with an artistic imprint, and proved her presence as a talented director with a clear and skilled artistic vision and a popular among the masses, which culminated in her receiving the Faten Hamama Appreciation Award.