Watch out for ZouZou - The pulse of Egyptian Cinema

Egyptian films hold a place in the hearts of many from Arabic-speaking countries.

My earliest memory of a day out was with my late father, going to see an Egyptian film on a summer Friday afternoon. Unaccustomed to the Egyptian dialect at the time, I kept pestering him after every other line: “Baba, what does that mean?”

Watch out for ZouZou is a fun rom-comedy, full of whimsy, nostalgia and music; reminiscent of technicolour romps of the 70s like Grease. 

The '70s film follows the life of a driven woman, determined not to rely on a life of belly-dancing with her mother to make ends meet. Instead, she wants a different life for herself. One that involves studying and being queen of college, and not of the dancefloor. 

The belly-dancing scenes at the start of the film are great. The music, the performance, the outfits! You can't help but raise your arms and shake your shoulders. 

But behind the rhythm and sparkle, ZouZou hides this part of her life. It’s a secret she keeps from everyone at university, worried it might ruin her future.

Caught between her ambitions and a family whose income depends on her dancing, things take a turn when she meets the man of her dreams.

Quite literally—we see him first in a dream. She twirls through a hazy sequence in a sunflower-yellow dress full of whimsy, set in a fantasy world, kissing a man she hasn’t yet met.

That man is a playwright who visits her class the very next day, to speak—quite miserably—about working in theatre.

He’s dealing with his own problems, stuck in an engagement that’s draining him, with a fiancée who clings to tradition and keeps him from feeling free. 

Naturally, ZouZou, full of ambition and surrounded by song, falls for him. And just as naturally, this creates tension with the fiancée—who isn’t shy about revealing ZouZou’s closely guarded secret.

Watch Out for ZouZou was so successful in Egypt that cinemas kept it running for a whole year. Much of the music from the film is still sung by Egyptians today. These songs became some of the most memorable and influential of the time.

The film’s two main music composers were Kamal El-Taweel and Salah Jahin. Kamal El-Taweel was close friends with Abdel Halim Hafez—another iconic composer and singer of the era.

Music from this period became part of the DNA of Egyptian identity. Songs from films like ZouZou remain household favourites, passed down from one generation to the next.

If you want something fun, emotionally engaging, and culturally rich—Watch Out for ZouZou delivers on all fronts and then some. A true household favourite, essential to understanding the pulse of Egyptian cinema in the 1970s.

By Yasmeen Soudani

Watch out for ZouZou is showing at HPPH on Sun 22 Jun at 14:00 as part of SAFAR Film Festival. You can book tickets here.

About Yasmeen Soudani
Yasmeen Soudani is a sound artist, radio host and cultural producer. She is the founder of souqsounds, a multifaceted platform that brings people together through events, film screenings, workshops, talks, compilation albums, and radio shows. Souqsounds also includes a podcast and radio show, inviting Arab creatives from around the world to discuss their work.