Sawsan Badr: “Umm al-Dunya” is a documentary work that reviews the history of Egypt in an easy way

The artist, Sawsan Badr, is participating in the documentary series, which has been shown since September 29, where she said in an interview with “Sky News Arabia”: “The most important reason for my participation in (Umm al-Dunya) is reading history, which is a very important issue for all people, and any history is very important. We are aware of the history of Egypt, and that is why I took part in the work with great interest and passion.”

Badr added: “I think that we all have to understand our history in a true and honest way, from the smallest person to the oldest person. We worked to present the history in a simple and easy way for everyone to understand.”

Regarding the wide echo achieved by the “Umm al-Dunya” series, Badr indicated that she did not expect the work to achieve all this spread and success, especially among young people, explaining at the same time that “this work is very important for generations to provide them with information that they do not know about the history of Egypt”.

Regarding the scenes of the series, Badr explained that “the scenes were very interesting, especially since we visited more than one governorate in Egypt, and I noticed that the people of these governorates are aware and know the value of antiquities, museums and heritage in their country and are interested in it.”

And she continued: “I consider the Umm al-Dunya series one of the most important documentaries that have ever been presented, especially because it is a purely Egyptian thought and does not present anyone’s point of view, but rather presents the point of view of history in a simple and easy way.”

The first part of the documentary series begins with the ancient Egyptian man, up to the rule of Cleopatra, through the unification of the two countries, the era of building the pyramids, the era of decay (first and second), as well as the Hyksos, and the era of prosperity of the Egyptian state, provided that the rest of the historical episodes are completed in a new season.

Simplified Documentary Series

For his part, Egyptian director Mahmoud Rashad said, in an interview with Sky News Arabia, that the idea of ​​the series came to him in light of his keen interest in everything related to heritage and history, and his keenness to participate in documenting heritage visually in the first place.

Rashad indicated that “the idea of ​​the Umm al-Dunya series took about three years to work on, and when I found a producer enthusiastic about the work, I started the actual implementation about a year and a half ago. The writing took about six months, and the preparation took about a year, while the actual shooting took two months, and the editing took about five months.” “.

And about the difficulties he faced in the series, Rashad revealed that traveling to more than one governorate was very stressful, especially since they used to take long hours for filming in one day, and filming was in the month of Ramadan, in the desert and some difficult areas.

Regarding the main goal of the idea of ​​the “Umm al-Dunya” series, the Egyptian director indicated that he wanted to convey the history of Egypt in a simple and easy way, not in an academic way.

With regard to preparing for the second part of the “Mother of the World” series, Rashad revealed that they are currently in the stage of writing for the second part, noting that the first part will end with the rule of Cleopatra and the end of the Ptolemaic period, and the second part of the Roman rule begins through the Coptic and Islamic period and modern history.

In turn, the director of photography for the “Umm al-Dunya” series, Saif Khaled, revealed the difficulties and challenges he faced at work, noting in statements to “Sky News Arabia” that “there were many difficulties, especially filming in the pyramids and the descent of tombs, as there were places Stressful like the Valley of the Kings in Aswan, and other places in Minya Governorate, in addition to the hardship of continuous travel to many governorates. It was a stressful task, but because of our love for work, we were working with passion and attention until the picture arrived in the best way.

Historical review

The episodes include representative and dramatic scenes and “animation”, and it also hosts a number of professors specialized in Egyptology, and relies on them in the historical material, including Dr. Yasmine El-Shazly, who has a doctorate in Egyptology from Johns Hopkins University in the United States, who said: “My role in The work is the historical review of the series, including the clothes of the characters.

On the reason for her enthusiasm to participate in this work, El-Shazly pointed out that she had long hoped to produce a modern series dealing with the history of ancient Egypt smoothly, so that the Egyptians would know their history.