Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival to grant Onsi Abou Seif Career Achievement Award

Egyptian production designer and art director Onsi Abou Seif graduated from the Higher Institute of Cinema in 1967, and worked in his early days on the movies “Diary of a Country Prosecutor” by celebrated director Tewfik Saleh, and “The Mummy” (1969) by Shadi Abdel Salam.

 

Throughout his career, Abou Seif proved—time and time again—that set design is one of the most important and decisive elements of filmmaking.

 

The first award granted to him under the auspices of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture was for the movie Illusions of Love (1970).

 

He moved on to receive numerous awards from the Ministry for his work on “Alexandria: Again and Again” (1989), “Kit Kat” (1991), and “The Thief of Joy” (1995), among others.

 

Onsi Abou Seif designed special scenes for the Hollywood movie “Malcolm X” (1992), and frequently collaborated with his friend Daoud Abdel Sayed, acclaimed Egyptian director.

 

Abou Seif is known for designing hyper-realistic set décor, most significantly for the television series “Critical Moments” (2007), and the film “The Traveller” (2009).

 

His most memorable works include “Love in Jail” (1983), “Kit Kat” (1991), “Land of Dreams” (1993), “The Other” (1999), “Land of Fear” (2000), “The Days of Sadat” (2001), “A Citizen, a Detective, and a Thief” (2001),” Halim” (2006), and “Messages from the Sea” (2010).