My Wife and the Dog

Said Marzouk was born in 1940, and grew up in a poor family, where the burden of responsibility laid upon his shoulders as his father died when he was young. He was left to support his mother and his younger siblings. The hardships he endured at this time reflect greatly in his cinematic work, the anguish and suffering of his lead characters. Marzouk lived opposite a cinema as a child and this was his form of escape. He was truly inspired by seeing Demille’s Ten Commandments and realised his was calling was in cinema.

Said Marzouk never went to film school and developed his style and knowledge through himself and reading books. Before becoming a director he worked as an assistant for his friend, the young director Ibrahim Alhqnkira. Then immediately after he directed two short films. After that, he made the documentary film (the Enemies of Freedom, 1967) which was shown at the Leipzig film festival, and won the second prize at the festival. He went onto to make feature films with great success and remained a leading filmmaker in Egypt for several decades. —Adapted from Cinematechhaddad