About Salah Abou Seif Salah Abu Seif (Arabic: صلاح أبوسيف‎, Ṣalāḥ Abū Sayf) (May 10, 1915 – June 23, 1996) was one of the most famous Egyptian film directors. He is considered to be the godfather of the realistic cinema in Egypt. Many of the 41 films he directed are considered Egyptian classics.Salah Abu Seif is the most Egyptian director to direct films adapted from Arabic novels and short stories (17 films), his film Bidaya wa nihaya (1960) was the first film adapted from a novel written by Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz. He is also credited as Salah Abu Saif, Salah Abou Seif or Salah Abouseif.