The Cinematographer’s Blueprint to Success

The Cinematographer’s Blueprint to Success

Join award-winning cinematographer Ahmad Al Morsy, Csc, for a talk on cinematography at the Xposure International Photography Festival.

In this talk, Al-Morsy will discuss things you need to know to become a cinematographer.
For over 25 years, Egyptian director and DOP Ahmad Al-Morsy has worked on some of the Arab world’s biggest box office hits, including THE BLUE ELEPHANT, THE ORIGINALS, and KIRA & EL GEN.

Al-Morsy will cover everything from what a cinematographer is, to landing your first job behind the camera. The presentation will also cover the basics of cinematography, the specific skills required of each cinematographer, the equipment they use, and the best practices for creating a portfolio, making connections, and promoting one’s work.

This talk is relevant for anyone with interest in filmmaking or cinematography. Don’t miss your chance to learn from one of the Middle East’s top-tier DOPs.

DOP and director Ahmad Al-Morsy has been working in the filmmaking industry for more than 25 years, with more than 50 films and over 2,000 TV ads under his belt as a DOP.
Throughout his career, Al-Morsy won 26 national and international awards for his work. Also, he is currently a member of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers (CSC), in addition to the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS), which granted him a total of 11 awards since joining it in 2018.
In 2001, Al-Morsy became the youngest DOP in Egypt with his debut film VIOLENCE AND SARCASM (Al Unf Wal Sokhrya). In 2010, he received three awards for his film MESSAGES FROM THE SEA (Rasa’el Al Bahr), which was Egypt’s official submission to the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film that year.
Moreover, his film ASWAR AL AMAR (Walls of the Moon) in 2009 is the second film in the world to be shot using an ARRI D21 camera.
Al-Morsy also worked on THE BLUE ELEPHANT, which shattered previous records at the Egyptian box office in 2014. The film marked his first collaboration with director Marwan Hamed and writer Ahmed Mourad, which was repeated in THE ORIGINALS (2017) — which won him five awards, including three awards from the ACS — and continued with DIAMOND DUST (2018), followed by BLUE ELEPHANT: DARK WHISPERS (2019), and most recently KIRA & EL GIN (2022); the biggest production in the history of Arab cinema following the story of the Egyptian resistance against the British occupation in the early 20th century.
The film marked the start of the Eid Al-Adha cinematic season in 2022, becoming the highest-grossing film in Egyptian history, exceeding EGP 118m in box office revenues.
KIRA & EL GIN garnered Al-Morsy the Gold Award in The Features Cinema Category from the ACS.
Additionally, Al-Morsy collaborated with the ministry in directing several promotional campaigns, including the ‘Experience Egypt: Same Great Feelings’ ad – that garnered him the Gold Award from the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) – which featured Egypt’s most attractive sights ahead of the summer of 2020.
He also directed the ‘Experience Egypt: Summer in Egypt is a Different Story’ ad, which aired in 2021.
By the end of the year, his ‘Experience a New Egypt’ ad won the award for the best promotional video in the Middle East from the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
He was also the DOP and director of the grand opening of The Avenue of Sphinxes in Luxor that took place in November 2021, which garnered him the Silver Award in the Entertainment & TV Magazine Category from The Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) at the Opet Festival.
Prior to that, in April 2021, Al-Morsy also took part in the Pharaoh’s Golden Parade as a director and DOP of the event that witnessed the relocation of 22 royal mummies from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC) in Fustat. Moreover, he directed megastar Mohamed Mounir’s music video Ana Masry (I Am Egyptian), which was released during the event.
Al Morsy’s passion for experimenting with new tools in Ads made him one of the most prominent DOPs worldwide in the realm of TV commercials.