Mohamed Kenawi
Documentary Director
He began his artistic after obtaining the Bachelor Degree of Law, Cairo University ,in 1960 after being called upon by the prominent Director Salah Abo Seif and his colleagues Ahmed Rashed , Rafaat El-Meihy , Ashraf Fahmy ,Mohamed Khan and the rest of the group.He enrolled in Cairo Company for Film Production (Filmintage) upon the request of President Gamal Abdel Nasser ,to establish a public sector company that reflects the objectives of July 1952 revolution ,producing films that present the revolution thought.
Director Mohamed Kenawi and his colleagues nominated the stories and scripts that can be transformed into Egyptian films through the reading and scenarios committee . During that time , Director Salah Abo Seif established the High Institute for Scenario in 1962 ,with two- year duration of study. He was the first Dean for Institute and Director Mohamed Kenawi obtained the Diploma of the High Institute for Scenarios ,along with his colleagues ; a Diploma that is equivalent to the Master Degree.
Later on ,Minister of Culture ,Doctor Tharwat Okasha ,chose Director Mohamed Kenawi and his colleagues to join the Reading and Scenarios Committee for Film Institution ,headed by the writer Naguib Mahfouz, who obtained the Nobel Prize of Literature 1988.The committee selected the Egyptian and international stories that can be transformed into Egyptian purposeful films.
When the National Center for Films was established in 1967 , Director Mohamed Kenawi took his first step in directing documentary films under the supervision of two experts : Melo Slav Kubec for documentary films ,and Vladimir Lekhky for animations from Czechoslovakia.
In December 1972 ,Director Mohamed Kenawi travelled to United Arab Emirates to direct several documentary films for the country like “The Camel” , “Pottery Art” , and “The First Annual Exhibition for Educational Media”.He established a department for school theatre ,preparing and directing plays for Dubai TV ,in which he handled the social problems in Emirates during that time.He then began teaching in Faculty of Mass Communication in Emirates University .He obtained several prizes and certificates of appreciation from Emirates for these works.
Director Mohamed Kenawi returned to Cairo in 1992 and translated the book “The Film Dynamics” from English ,issued by the Public Egyptian Organization for Books ,in the Thousand Books series in 1996.
In March 2010, Egyptian Ministry of Culture and the Supreme Council of Culture honored Director Mohamed Kenawi with an award of appreciation entitled “One of the Pioneers of Documentary Films” for his contribution in developing Egyptian films and raising it to such high standard.
The National Center for Films is affiliated to the Egyptian Ministry of Culture with annual budget for production of documentary films and animations.