Egyptian director Khaled Bahgat and his father writer Ahmed Bahgat are now gearing up for shooting two TV series entitled al Amir Wa al Darwish (Prince and Dervish) and Omar al Khayyam.
Bahgat is currently shooting his series Sirat Said al Zewati based on the novel Shua’a’ al Amal (Hope Rays) by Tharwat Abaza. The series is scripted by Mustafa Muharram, costarring Salah al Saadani and Maali Zayed and is about the biography of Said al Zewati and how he managed to reach a top status in the society after facing many difficulties. The young director is also gearing up for the series Tarh al Bahr (Sea Production) scripted by Mohammed Galal Abdel Qawi.
The young director debuted in the historical series Riyah al Sharq (East Wind) in 1996 in which Mahmoud Yasin played the starring role and he then advanced with his series Darb bin Barqooq based on the story of Mohammed Galal. The series is scripted by Samirah Mohsen and costarring Mervat Amin and Salah al Saadani. Then he directed the series al Holm Wa al Alam (Dream and Pain) scripted by Hamed Ibrahim and costarring Nabil al Halfawi and Mahmoud al Gondi and al Aqdar (Destinies) based on a story by the Egyptian Noble prize winning writer Naguib Mahfouz, scripted by Mohammed al Ghaiti and costarring Ezzat al A’laili and Sumayyah al Ulfi.
About the cinema crisis, which has kept him away from direction, he told the daily al Hayat, “the filmmakers are the ones who destroyed the cinema industry by shooting quick bad films to satisfy the market, in addition to the economic difficulties, which they face. We have very strict censors who prohibit everything. We have neither directors who read nor do we have any money. We have nothing at all that we can do, and a director who can direct a good Egyptian film nowadays should be considered more than a genius -- Albawaba.com
