Egyptian cinema has always been interested in embodying the reality we live in. It has been keen to express its viewers of all ages, personalities, and orientations. So it had to make what is known as teen movies. They are films whose authors were inspired by the world of young people, their different lifestyles, and their behaviors in the evaluation stage. As reflected in the movie, the image of the teenager was bold, free of forgery, and closer to the memories of each of us about the adolescence stage. Who among us has not gone through that dangerous stage, and how much fun it is always to watch films that we feel we belong to and expect their events because we have faced the same before.
Although these films are usually aimed at young moviegoers and target their special interests, parents should also make sure that they watch these types of films to open a window into the world of their children. Moreover, it is an excellent way to understand and internalize their feelings, thoughts, and challenges to help discover the right and appropriate way to connect with them in one of the most difficult stages of their lives. Below, we present a group of the most prominent Egyptian films that discussed adolescent issues and shed light on their needs.
“Teenageros.”
The film touched on several important issues, including pregnancy outside marriage, the differentiation of treatment between son and daughter, and forcing a girl to marry. This is through the story of three teenage girls, each of whom suffers from different problems with her family. The first suffers from the reactionary mentality of her mother, which allows her young son to do what he wants while imposing strict restrictions on the daughter, even refusing to marry her to the young man she loves and insisting on her marriage to her cousin. The second girl loves her stepfather’s son and gets pregnant without marriage. When his father finds out about the matter, he expels his son from the house and forces the girl to have an abortion, causing her death. As for the latter, she is a girl who lives in a liberal family that gives her absolute freedom to do what she wants. However, she takes advantage of her freedom in the wrong way, befriends many young people, and runs away from school to spend her time with them until she feels that she is living incorrectly. Hence, she stops her liberal behavior and commits to her studies while waiting for the right husband. The film stars Magda and Rushdi Abaza. It was written by Ali Al-Zarqani and directed by Ahmed Diaa El-Din.
Little Teen 1966
The film tells the story of a high school student who suffers from her father’s harsh treatment and the strict control he imposes on her, preventing her from studying. It highlights the reckless and hasty decisions that teens make without carefully considering their consequences. The girl resorts to searching for a suitable groom to get rid of her father’s control, and her choice falls on her married neighbor, who treats her as if she were his daughter. And when he wakes up, the girl claims that he assaulted her until she forces him to marry her. She later claims she is pregnant and tells her father, who rushes to kill his neighbor but injures his daughter. Finally, in the hospital, the girl realizes the ugliness of what she did and confesses the truth. The film stars Nelly and Ahmed Mazhar. It was written by Ismail Al-Qadi and directed by Mahmoud Zulfikar.
The Virgin and The Grey Hair 1983
The film’s events revolve around the intense romantic feelings of adolescents, their understanding of those feelings, and their ability to deal with them wisely, through the story of a couple who decided to adopt a girl because the wife is unable to bear children. The girl grows up until she reaches adolescence and discovers that she has been adopted. She begins to act reckless and immoral. Her feelings towards her father change from a paternal love to passionate love, and she falls in love with him. She even kissed him lustfully, so he pushed her away and slapped her in the face. The girl then retracted her actions and married a young man of her age after realizing that her feelings were a fleeting teenager. The film stars Sherihan, Nabila Obeida and Mahmoud Abdel Aziz. It is written by Ihsan Abdel Quddous, a screenplay and dialogue by Kawthar Haikal and directed by Hussein Kamal.
Film Thaqafi 2000
The film presented one of the most important problems experienced by young people and adolescents in Egypt, which is the pent-up sexual desires caused by the difficulty of marriage these days due to the economic conditions. It tells the story of three friends who have completed their university studies, suffer from unemployment and poor financial situation, and are moved by their pent-up sexual desire because of their inability to marry. Hence, they resort to escape from their reality by watching pornographic films. After they obtained a videotape of one of those films, their journey begins in an attempt to find a video device and a suitable place to watch. They go through many situations and paradoxes in a comic framework, only to discover that the videotape is recorded in the People’s Assembly session. In addition, it discusses providing the opportunity for youth to work. The film stars Ahmed Rizk, Ahmed Eid, and Fathi Abdel Wahab. It was written and directed by Mohamed Amin.
Diary of a Teenager 2001
The film sheds light on the romantic feelings of teenagers and their aspiration for love stories. It also touched on other issues such as sexual relations outside marriage, rape, and abortion. The film presented the story of a teenage girl in high school who dreams of falling into a romantic love story in the manner of Antonio and Cleopatra. She meets a handsome young man who is morally liberated. She falls in love with him and becomes involved in a sexual relationship after promising her to marry. However, the girl’s friend feels jealousy and hatred towards her, so she takes a picture of her with her lover and blackmails her through a young man who rapes the girl. The film stars Hend Sabry, Ahmed Ezz, Mohamed Ragab, and Shams. It is a story directed by Enas Al Degheidy and a script and dialogue by Abdel Hai Adeeb.
Girls’ Secrets 2001
The film touched on one of the most serious issues in adolescence, which is sexual desire. However, it also sheds light on several other issues, including female genital mutilation, abortion, and domestic violence. And that is through the story of a teenage girl who fell in love with her neighbor. Their feelings overcame them until they had a sexual relationship that resulted in the girl’s pregnancy. Finally, after nine months in which the girl hid her pregnancy, she gave birth to her daughter at her aunt’s house, who rushed her to the hospital in a state of astonishment and disbelief from the whole family and a feeling of embarrassment and fear of scandal on the part of her parents. The film’s events dealt with the girl’s upbringing in a strict family, which made her a frightened child suffering from repression and emotional deprivation and unable to communicate with her family.
In contrast, another model represented by her cousin, who grew up in a moderate and more understanding family, made her a confident child and frank with her family. Maya Shiha, Sherif Ramzy, Ezzat Abu Auf, Dalal Abdel Aziz, and Sawsan Badr. It is written by Azza Shalaby and directed by Magdy Ahmed Ali.
Free Time 2006
Another important issue of youth and adolescents raised by the film is the exploitation of the free time they have in abundance, which ends up wasting time on things that are often not useful. And that is by presenting the stories of a large and diverse group of university youth who varied between wealth and poverty, emancipation and religiosity, but were brought together by rough ideas, rebellion against reality, and enthusiasm to try everything new. So that young people fall into a closed circle between their religious commitment and interest in their studies and their future. Hence, their desire to run wild, experiment with drugs and sexual relations. This situation was expressed with all accuracy by the movie’s song “Binlyf fi Dwyer” and its brilliantly directed body in the end scene when the heroes rode the roller-coaster game in the Amusement park. The film stars Ahmed Hatem, Karim Kassem, Amr Abed, Randa El Behairy, and Safa Taj El-Din. It is written by Amr Gamal and Mahmoud Mohamed and directed by Mohamed Mostafa.
Magic 2007
The film discussed the idea of class differences between rich and poor families and their impact on adolescent children, their way of thinking, and their problems. And that is through four friends from different classes, three of them from a poor class, each seeks to achieve great wealth to improve their standard of living, so they commit fraud and deception. As for the fourth, who is from a rich family and seeks to befriend her because of his loneliness, joins them in the thefts as a kind of adventure and breaks boredom and monotony. The film chronicles the many problems these young people fall into because of their young age and moral corruption. The film stars Ahmed Hatem, Amr Abed, Karim Kassem, and Farah Youssef. It is written by Mohamed Hassan and directed by Mohamed Mostafa.
EUC 2011
The film dealt with the journey of a group of high school students who failed to achieve a high score and therefore were unable to enter the university, so they decided to establish their own fake university so that they would not face a wave of anger from their families because of this failure. Young people are surprised by the desire of many other students to enter the university, thinking that it is true. Still, because of their adolescence and not thinking about their future, they did not care that there were no professors to teach and no accredited curriculum. As events unfold, the reality of the fictitious university becomes clear and is subject to the Ministry of Higher Education. Students discover many negatives in the education system in Egypt. The film stars Karim Kassem, Amr Abed, and Mohamed Salam. It was written by Omar Gamal and directed by Akram Farid.
Mickey’s Family 2011
The film revolves around a middle-class Egyptian family, consisting of a father, mother, grandmother, and five children of different ages, the oldest of whom is a newly graduated first lieutenant and the youngest in elementary school. Children suffer from their own teenage problems, which lead them to lie to their parents and deceive them in various ways. Because of the parents’ ignorance of this lie, they apply for the ideal family competition. As the events go on, it becomes clear that the family with all its members is far from ideal, including the father and mother. They decided to pay a financial bribe to the head of the jury so that their family would win the title of the ideal family. The film stars Lebleba, Ahmed Fouad Selim, Amr Abed, and Hassan Harb. It was written by Omar Gamal and directed by Akram Farid.
Fourth-generation 2015
The film tells the story of four teenage friends who fail in high school and get into trouble frequently, and each of them suffers from different family problems. The friends find themselves chased by the police on charges of joining a terrorist group and attempting to assassinate the Minister of the Interior. In addition, they are pursued by a drug dealer who thinks they stole him. In a comic context, the four teenagers seek to get out of this predicament, and the events of the film end with proving their innocence. The film stars Ahmed Malik, Mark Hajjar, Khaled Anwar, and Ali Ismail. It was written by Amr Samir Atef and directed by Ahmed Nader Galal.
High school girls 2020
The film reviewed the world of girls, their lifestyle, and behavior through the story of five teenage girls in high school, each of whom begins to search for herself amid various family problems and circumstances, and they fall into different troubles and crises. The film also sheds light on social media and its impact on adolescents, in terms of their being affected by the outside community and changing their beliefs, not accepting themselves and their circumstances, and seeking to change them in any way, even if by lying and deception. The film stars Jamila Awad, Hanadi Muhanna, Mayan Al-Sayed, Huda Al-Mufti, and May Al-Gheity. It is written by Ayman Salama and directed by Mahmoud Kamel.