A great shock was received by the cinematic and cultural community in Egypt, when director Daoud Abdel Sayed announced his retirement, due to the state of cinema and the disappearance of its middle-class audience.
While many within the young community expressed their anger at this decision, calling on Abdel Sayed to retract his retirement and return to the scene.
In exclusive statements to Al-Arabiya.net, the director of the famous movie “Kit Kat” expressed his deep affection for these reactions.
He also explained that what happened left him with an impression that his artistic life and the achievements he achieved had an impact and a result on people in general and also specialists in the field.
However, he pointed out that retiring is a professional decision that does not have any protest goals, considering that the circumstances in which the cinema is living require that.
“I don’t matter.. the cinema is what matters”
The director of “Extraordinary Capabilities” also saw that “the conditions conducive to directing do not mean that a producer contacts him in order to direct a movie, but rather includes the type of cinema in itself and its audience, considering that the middle-class audience is absent from the big screen.
He also indicated that the people of the middle class cannot pay the prices of cinema tickets, pointing out that the solution lies in the intervention of the state, especially since there are agencies that do not fulfill the role assigned to them, as he put it.
In addition, he said, “I don’t matter…the cinema is what matters.”
Kit Kat movie
Entertainment movies
Daoud also stressed that he does not blame the directors for resorting to external support and does not stand against them in that, considering that the local part of the industry resorts to entertainment films that do not carry any issues.
The owner of “Land of Fear” confirmed that he tried to return to the scene again, but he did not succeed because there was no system, stressing that in his career he collided with producers trying to impose concessions, some of which were acceptable and others rejected, and he also criticized the censorship of artistic works.
As for the claims of some to him that the current period should be like a warrior’s rest, Abd al-Sayed hoped that his decision would be a trigger for a strong cinematic dialogue that would restore things to normal, pointing out that at that time he might feel that what he wanted had been achieved!