Cinematographer Said Shimi delves into history and cinema's unsung heroes in latest trilogy

This includes the transition from Ottoman rule to the achievement of Egyptian national rule by the Free Officers in 1952, the national dream and its subsequent collapse in 1967, and finally, radical change and an open society following the October 1973 triumph.

Shimi recounts stories he's lived, heard, or read about.

Through every recollection, one thing seems to take centre stage: The actions, ambitions and contributions of everyday "ordinary" Egyptians who helped shape history as we know it.

Stars and friends

One of Shimi's earliest encounters with film celebrities came as a child, while working for his family.

"I worked at my uncles' shops in downtown Cairo in the 1960s. I got up close and personal with famous actors while they were buying sweets – like Ismail Yassin, Shukoko, Tahia Kariokka, and Zaki Rostom. I never dared to speak to them."

After becoming a major figure himself, Shimi's personal anecdotes started to feature big-name directors and documentary filmmakers; some of these include Ali Abdelkhaleq, Nader Galal, Ashraf Fahmy, Ahmad Rashid, Fouad El-Tuhmamy and Saad Nadim. 

But the main protagonist in Shimi's stories has always the human being.

Still, his life has been filled with glitz and glam. During his downtime, Shimi could be found at the lively home of close friend and cultural critic Sami Al-Salamouni's.

"I only became closely acquainted with the great actress Suad Hosny at Al-Salamouni's house. Sami's apartment was like the mayor's country house; friends and artists would always spontaneously get together," he wrote.

Shimi dedicated a book to Al-Salamouni, titled after him, in 2021.

Ahmed Zaki, the method actor

Shimi was born on March 23, 1943 in Abdeen, a lively neighbourhood in Cairo. His father, Dr. Ahmed Saeed Shimi, was a physician. It was at his workplace that Shimi met his lifelong friend (and director and professional collaborator) Muhammad Khan, who was just a year older than him.

 "Our friendship – Mimi and I – began with the friendship of our two families. My dad had a clinic in Ataba Square and Mimi's dad, my uncle Hasan Khan, had an office in the same building. He was a tea merchant who imported tea from India and Ceylon and distributed it in Egypt," he recalled.

Shimi formed a strong personal bond with 'Mimi'. But they also became a dynamic cinematographer-director duo, with actor Ahmad Zaki as one of their greatest subjects.

Shimi was the director of photography on ten of Zaki's movies, starting with Khan's A Bird on the Road (1981) and concluding with Nader Galal's Hasan Al-Loul (1997). But their story had already begun years earlier.

Shimi met Zaki for the first time in a café in Tahrir Square, where he and Al-Salamouni were "eating foul and taamiya (fava beans and falafel) sandwiches and drinking tea."

Shimi's first impression of the lanky, would-be actor was that he was "an ordinary person, neither funny nor eloquent."

But over time, he began to realise he was working with "an extraordinary artist" who was so committed to his roles that he completely disappeared into character. It's a quality that "nearly killed" Shimi on several ocassions, including during the filming of high-octane car chase scenes in A Bird on the Road.

Other instances of Zaki's method acting were less risky, but just as notable.

During the filming of Al-Bari' (The Innocent), real soldiers were enlisted to play a variety of roles. While on location, director Al-Tayeb noticed a soldier in the distance with a particularly realistic gait. He and Shimi decided to tell Zaki to imitate him. But when the "soldier" approached, they discovered it was Zaki himself.

Meanwhile, while filming Nasser '56, Zaki transformed into Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser.

"The Minister of Information visited the set once," recalled Shimi. "Some people rushed to Ahmad Zaki to introduce him to the minister. But Zaki gave them a telling off, shouting: 'I am Gamal Abdel Nasser. The minister should come to me!'"

Behind the lens

For years, Shimi has had a soft spot for "ordinary" crew members who work tirelessly behind the scenes and whose names scroll past, unnoticed, during the end credits of any film.

He repeatedly mentions that the things he learned from the crew have been "greater than what I learned from academics… after graduation, I studied the studio staff."

Among them is Uncle Hasan Al-Buhairi, one of the first camera workers Shimi met. He was sceptical of Shimi at first. On the set of a short documentary film, of which Simi was an assistant cinematographer, Hasan refused to hand a camera over, as Shimi looked nothing like a cinematographer.

Shimi wore nothing that would indicate his "profession" in those days. He was still a history student at Cairo University. He had been rejected by the Cinema Institute for three consecutive years and had begun working as an assistant cinematographer in amateur films.

It would be years before he found his footing in the industry.

But today – with the help of hard-working crew members, life-long friends and big-name movie stars – Shimi boasts 108 feature films (and 70 documentary films), having spent half a century behind the lens, defining an essential era in Egyptian cinematography.