Egyptian belly dancer Fifi Abdo has decided to personally finance and produce a new film "Imra'a 100 Husan" (A Woman of a 100 Horses) after negotiations failed with a production company that demanded to cut the budget in half. Fifi Abdo revealed that she has set aside an amount of 5 million Egyptian pounds especially for the film, reported the London based daily Al Sharq Al Awsat.
Director Mohammad Abdul Aziz has been nominated to direct the film and Egyptian actors Majida Zaki, Majid Al Masri, Hassan Husni and Majid Al Kidwani are to costar with Fifi. The film's story revolves around a widow whose husband leaves her with a plant for making animal fertilizer and she suddenly becomes everyone's target for taking over her possessions and her body.
The widow outsmarts everyone who is greedy for her wealth and is able to win over all the possessions of those who tried to deceive her. Fifi wanted the film to send out the message that a woman is capable of taking care of herself and can stand on her own.
Fifi added that she is willing to increase the budget for the film if it calls for in order to make it a success. The dancer is putting all her efforts in the film to make up for the failure of her previous ones.
Abdo was a guest on a TV show aired on MBC satellite channel in which she talked openly about her journey throughout her career and life. Fifi said that after she resigned from her profession as a dancer she is not cleaning people's houses to make money, but instead will continue acting in different TV dramas and movies. She added that refused to take advantage of the fact that her current husband (the sixth one so far) is a wealthy businessman and use his money to produce films or TV series, to avoid endless gossip accusing her of such things.
Fifi noted that she and Lucy are the best dancers that ever emerged in Egypt and throughout the Arab world. When asked about what she thought of the belly dancer Dina, Fifi frankly said that Dina was the substitute dancer for her and Lucy. Whenever she and Lucy were not performing for reasons like having a headache, Dina would be called in to fill the empty spot, adding that Dina would always be waiting for such a chance. Regarding Dina's comment that dancing is a religious taboo, Fifi noted that if it was so why did she (Dina) dance in the first place and backed off her previous decision of resigning.
Regardless of the many disputes that will arise from electing a head for the Belly Dancing Association, the board of directors for oriental dance has made its decision that Fifi best fits the position. The board held a meeting in order to set the basic foundation for the association that will help protect the rights of dancers throughout Egypt.
Fifi was nominated for the position with regards to her long and rich career as a belly dancer, in addition to most people's opinion that Fifi is the most suitable candidate for the post. Previous attempts by belly dancers have been made to create an association that protects their rights, but for one reason or another have failed to be implemented. –Albawaba.com
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
