# The Night of Counting the Years
**The Night of Counting the Years** (Arabic: المومياء, *Al-Mummia*, "The Mummy") is a 1969 Egyptian historical drama directed by Shadi Abdel Salam, his only completed feature film. Set in 1881, it follows a young man from an Upper Egyptian tribe that has secretly lived by plundering pharaonic tombs, and who must choose between his family's livelihood and the preservation of the country's ancient heritage[1](https://sightlines.media/film/46707/the-night-of-counting-the-years-1969). The film is routinely named among the greatest works of Egyptian and Arab cinema[1](https://sightlines.media/film/46707/the-night-of-counting-the-years-1969).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | *Al-Mummia* (المومياء); international title "The Night of Counting the Years"[2](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/la-momie/) |
| Director and writer | Shadi Abdel Salam, his first and only completed feature[1](https://sightlines.media/film/46707/the-night-of-counting-the-years-1969) |
| Year and country | Egypt, 1969; color, 35 mm[2](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/la-momie/) |
| Historical basis | The 1881 discovery of the royal mummy cache at Deir el-Bahari and the tomb-raiding Horabat tribe[2](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/la-momie/) |
| Principal cast | Ahmed Marei (Wannis), Ahmed Hegazi (the brother), Zouzou Hamdi El Hakim (the mother), Nadia Lutfi (Zeena)[3](https://marrakech-festival.com/en/films/the-mummy-the-night-of-counting-the-years-al-momia/) |
| Key crew | Cinematography Abdel Aziz Fahmy; editing Kamal Abou El Ella; music Mario Nascimbene; production Egyptian General Cinema Organization[3](https://marrakech-festival.com/en/films/the-mummy-the-night-of-counting-the-years-al-momia/) |
| Restoration | Restored in 2009 by Cineteca di Bologna/L'Immagine Ritrovata with the World Cinema Project and the Egyptian Film Center[4](https://cinefan.hkiff.org.hk/movie/the-night-of-counting-the-years-26) |
| Running time | Reported as 99 to 104 minutes depending on the source[5](https://elcinema.com/work/1010832/) • [3](https://marrakech-festival.com/en/films/the-mummy-the-night-of-counting-the-years-al-momia/) |
## Spoilers
### Story and historical basis
The film draws on a real event: the 1881 discovery, during an expedition connected with the French archaeologist Gaston Maspero, of a cache of royal mummies at [Deir el-Bahari](https://www.edgepedia.org/deir-el-bahari) near Thebes. A tribe living in extreme poverty in the surrounding mountains had organized the looting of ancient tombs for generations and kept their locations secret. When the chief of the tribe died, his sons learned the secret of the tombs from their uncle but refused to continue the trade[2](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/la-momie/).
In the film, the younger son, Wannis (Ahmed Marei), inherits the secret after his father's death and struggles with the choice between continuing the looting that supports his tribe and exposing it. One account of the plot has one of the sons killed for trying to stop the theft of antiquities while the second escapes to inform the police and the antiquities authorities[5](https://elcinema.com/work/1010832/). The antiquities inspector Ahmed Kamal (Mohamed Khairy) and the archaeologist Maspero (Gaby Karraz) appear among the characters[5](https://elcinema.com/work/1010832/) • [15](https://thedouglashyde.ie/event/shadi-abdel-salam-the-night-of-counting-the-years/). The story is set a year before the [British occupation of Egypt](https://www.edgepedia.org/british-occupation-of-egypt) began in 1882[6](https://cinemayaat.com/the-night-of-counting-the-years/).
## Themes
The film treats the plundered dead as heritage rather than menace, and it questions contemporary Egyptian cultural identity through the tribe's relationship with a distant past known only through profanation and economics, considering the material and moral poverty that sustains the trade[2](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/la-momie/). Time Out described it as an examination of cultural imperialism in reverse, in which Western merchants buy rarities stolen from Egyptian tombs, and noted that a story first posed in moral terms develops into a study of defending the past from would-be cultural exploiters[7](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-night-of-counting-the-years).
## Production
Shadi Abdel Salam, born in [Alexandria](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexandria) in 1930, worked as a set and costume designer before directing, including on Joseph Mankiewicz's *[Cleopatra](https://www.edgepedia.org/cleopatra-1963-film)* in 1964 and on costume design for Renzo Rossellini's *Fight for Survival* in 1967[3](https://marrakech-festival.com/en/films/the-mummy-the-night-of-counting-the-years-al-momia/). He first read the story of the Deir el-Bahari mummy discovery in 1956, and the idea took shape in 1963 while he was working in Poland on Kawalerowicz's *Pharaoh*; an early version was a roughly forty-line poetic composition, and the script went through working titles including *Buried Again* and *Wanys*[8](https://www.live.sabzian.be/index.php/text/counting-the-years).
**Support and funding.** [The Italian](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-italian) director [Roberto Rossellini](https://www.edgepedia.org/roberto-rossellini), then in Cairo, read the screenplay and championed the project, lending his name to it; the culture minister Tharwat Okasha adopted the project, and [Naguib Mahfouz](https://www.edgepedia.org/naguib-mahfouz), then chair of the Cinema Institution, played a role in its funding[9](https://www.bibalex.org/AlexCinema/cinematographers/Shadi_Abdel_Salam.html). Shooting began in March 1968 with Abdel Aziz Fahmy as cinematographer, Mustafa Emam as photographer, Samir Auf as second assistant, and Salah Marei and Onsi Abou-Seif as set designers[8](https://www.live.sabzian.be/index.php/text/counting-the-years). The film was completed in 1969[10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3C2whjPIVE).
**Language and style.** The dialogue is in classical Arabic, unusual for Egyptian cinema, and the film is known for its slow, ceremonial pacing and monumental compositions of figures against ruins[4](https://cinefan.hkiff.org.hk/movie/the-night-of-counting-the-years-26). Abdel Salam prepared the principal frames in advance as hand drawings, an unusual degree of previsualization in Arab cinema[11](https://elcinema.com/work/1010832/enrich).
## Release and reception
The film circulated mainly through international festivals before reaching Egyptian audiences. It screened at Venice, Carthage, and London in 1970; Sydney, San Francisco, and Chicago in 1971; and Belgrade, Karlovy Vary, and Berlin in 1972, before opening in Cairo at the start of 1975[5](https://elcinema.com/work/1010832/). Egyptian officials had hesitated to release it domestically, judging it unlikely to attract audiences[12](https://www.vetogate.com/3105350/). In 1971 the [Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-of-motion-picture-arts-and-sciences) refused to accept the film's submission for Oscar consideration[5](https://elcinema.com/work/1010832/).
**Critical standing.** Egyptian critics have ranked it among the best Egyptian films ever made[5](https://elcinema.com/work/1010832/), and it topped a 2013 Dubai International Film Festival critics' poll of the 100 most important Arab films[13](https://sightlines.media/film/46707/the-night-of-counting-the-years-1969/reception). Reception has not been uniform: commentators have debated its trance-like pace and formal solemnity, and one festival program note cautioned that despite its reputation among specialists the film had not been widely seen[13](https://sightlines.media/film/46707/the-night-of-counting-the-years-1969/reception) • [14](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/seattle-international-film-festival-2011-dispatch-6-the-night-of-counting-the-years/).
## Restoration and afterlife
For decades after the 1970s the film was difficult to see, circulating in poor prints[10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3C2whjPIVE) • [13](https://sightlines.media/film/46707/the-night-of-counting-the-years-1969/reception). In 2009 it was restored by the Cineteca di Bologna/L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with the Film Foundation's World Cinema Project, founded by Martin Scorsese, and the Egyptian Film Center, using the original 35 mm camera and sound negatives preserved at the Egyptian Film Center in Giza; funding came from Armani, Cartier, Qatar Airways, the Qatar Museum Authority, and the Egyptian Ministry of Culture[4](https://cinefan.hkiff.org.hk/movie/the-night-of-counting-the-years-26) • [10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3C2whjPIVE).
Abdel Salam never completed a second feature. He devoted about twelve years to an unrealized [Akhenaten](https://www.edgepedia.org/akhenaten) project that failed for lack of funds, then worked on short films and documentaries, taught at the Egyptian Film Institute, and headed its Experimental Film Department before his death in 1986[3](https://marrakech-festival.com/en/films/the-mummy-the-night-of-counting-the-years-al-momia/). The singularity of one finished feature has deepened the film's standing in film history[1](https://sightlines.media/film/46707/the-night-of-counting-the-years-1969).
## References
1. [The Night of Counting the Years (1969), Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/46707/the-night-of-counting-the-years-1969)
2. [La momie (Al mummia), Festival des 3 Continents](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/la-momie/)
3. [The Mummy – The Night of Counting the Years (Al-Momia), Marrakech International Film Festival](https://marrakech-festival.com/en/films/the-mummy-the-night-of-counting-the-years-al-momia/)
4. [The Night of Counting the Years (Al-momia), HKIFF Cine Fan](https://cinefan.hkiff.org.hk/movie/the-night-of-counting-the-years-26)
5. [فيلم المومياء 1969, ElCinema](https://elcinema.com/work/1010832/)
6. [The Night of Counting the Years, Cinemayaat](https://cinemayaat.com/the-night-of-counting-the-years/)
7. [The Night of Counting the Years review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-night-of-counting-the-years)
8. [Counting the Years, Shadi Abdel Salam, Sabzian](https://www.live.sabzian.be/index.php/text/counting-the-years)
9. [Shadi Abdel Salam, AlexCinema, Bibliotheca Alexandrina](https://www.bibalex.org/AlexCinema/cinematographers/Shadi_Abdel_Salam.html)
10. [فيلم المومياء – نسخة كاملة (restored version notes), YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3C2whjPIVE)
11. [تعديل بيانات: فيلم المومياء 1969, ElCinema](https://elcinema.com/work/1010832/enrich)
12. [شادي عبد السلام يحكي قصة إخراج فيلم «المومياء», Veto Gate](https://www.vetogate.com/3105350/)
13. [How The Night of Counting the Years was received, Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/46707/the-night-of-counting-the-years-1969/reception)
14. [Seattle International Film Festival 2011: The Night of Counting the Years, Slant Magazine](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/seattle-international-film-festival-2011-dispatch-6-the-night-of-counting-the-years/)
15. [Shadi Abdel Salam the Night of Counting the Years, thedouglashyde.ie](https://thedouglashyde.ie/event/shadi-abdel-salam-the-night-of-counting-the-years/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › Historical dramas and epics › Titles M to Z › Titles M to Sa*
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