Cairo, Then and Now

By: Alia Gharara

@AliaGharara

Mahmoud Shaltout, a comic artist known as ‘Mac Toot’ on social media platforms and an AUC professor of global public health and liberal arts, has developed an innovative way to relive the golden age of Egyptian cinema by bridging old and new Cairo.

The Cairo Filmed project, which he started in December 2017, is about bringing the past and present together by taking pictures of himself at the same locations used in iconic scenes from old movies to portray the beauty of Cairo in the mid 20th century.

“I was going to a course in the Cairo Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences where I asked my friend to take a picture of myself standing on stairs. I kept thinking that this place is familiar to me. Two months later, I found out that the same place appeared in the movie Chased by the Dogs in 1962, starring Shoukry Sarhan,” said Shaltout.

Shaltout’s interest in classic Egyptian movies gave him the ability to identify the places where some of the shots in classic movies took place.

“I decided to take a screenshot of Shoukry Sarhan climbing the stairs and blended it with my picture. It turned out to be perfect and I liked the idea, which drove me to take the decision to start the project,” said Shaltout.

Shaltout has a passion for hidden Egyptian heritage, which he discovers while roaming around Cairo and then shares on his Instagram account: @mactoot84.

Shaltout’s inspiration stemmed from the New York-based project ‘FILMography’ by Canadian writer and photographer Christopher Moloney. Moloney brings pictures from classic films and places them next to the actual site where the movie was filmed.

However, Shaltout had his own take on the concept and decided to include himself in his pictures.

Shaltout grew up watching black and white movies, which served as another source of inspiration for the project.

“I was born and raised in Kuwait. Back then, there were only four TV channels. One of them was an Arabic channel that aired classic Egyptian movies. I grew up watching these movies and they helped me to get an image of Egypt,” said Shaltout.

The main goal behind the Cairo Filmed project is to educate newer generations about the hidden heritage, particularly architecture, in a city which has started to disappear due to the new construction projects in and around the capital.

Shaltout also wanted to familiarize the younger generations with classic Egyptian films.

“The main aim of the project is to shed light on the heritage in places, such as Heliopolis, where the old classic buildings have disappeared. Egyptians also tend to focus on the beautiful buildings of downtown Cairo, while ignoring buildings in other districts like Heliopolis,” said Shaltout.

Shaltout screenshots a scene from a movie then goes to the place where the scene was shot. He then takes pictures of himself there and merges both pictures together using Adobe Photoshop. However, the process is complex because it can take up to an hour and a half, but this is the smallest of the challenge he faces.

“Angle is a major challenge because we have to take several pictures to match the scene’s angle. Place is another challenge because some have completely changed. I recall that we went to capture a place where we found a tree in front of the house that prevented us from taking pictures,” said Mohamed Sherif, Shaltout’s photographer and film studies graduate from the British University in Egypt.

“We take from ten to twelve pictures depending on the place,” said Shaltout.

The technique used in the Cairo Filmed project is the major factor for the fans’ positive response because it is complex. The technique used in merging both pictures together showed high level of creativity and photography skills that attracted the audience.

“I don’t think that he meant to compare Cairo in the past and present in a negative way like we, Egyptians, always glorify Egypt in the past. I believed that he used pictures from old movies to familiarize people with the beauty and the need to take care of these places,” said Christine Mounir, political science and communications and media arts junior.

Shaltout’s project has been received with noticeable enthusiasm on his Facebook page. Recently, he expanded his project to Alexandria.

“The project is still ongoing and there will be more pictures. I have other photos that I still want to capture,” said Shaltout.