Biography
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.
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 recognition of his exquisite works and talent.
In 2001, Al-Morsy became the youngest DOP in Egypt with his debut film VIOLENCE AND SARCASM (Al Unf Wal Sokhrya).
Prior to that, he worked as the 1st Assistant Camera (1st AC) in El Medina (The City) by Yousry Nasrallah, which holds the record for Egypt's first film shot by a digital camera. As a Cameraman, his repertoire includes other gems from the Egyptian cinema archives, such as Youssef Chahine's Alexandria ... New York (2004), Mohamed Yassine’s The Gazelle's Blood (2005) and the highest production budget film in Egyptian cinema history, The Yacoubian Building (2006).
Throughout his career, Al-Morsy won 26 national and international awards for his work, including Gold Award in the Features – Cinema Category and the Ross Wood Senior ACS Judges Award for Best Entry from the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) for THE ORIGINALS. His film ASWAR AL AMAR (Walls of the Moon) is the second film in the world to be shot using an ARRI D21 camera in 2009, where Al Morsy mixed between using digital cameras and 35 mm films.
His film THE BLUE ELEPHANT: DARK WHISPERS became the highest-grossing film in the history of Egyptian cinema. In 2020, Al Morsy joined the judging panel of the newly curated RFF-Revart Film Festival. Hailed as Egypt's first online vertical festival, RFF aims to introduce a modern dimension of creativity to filmmakers during the COVID-19 crisis.
Moreover, he conducts several lectures and writes several articles about the art of cinematography in different events of which include a master class entitled ‘Visual Storytelling and Adapting’ at the El Gouna Film Festival in 2020.
In 2021, Al-Morsy 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.
In March 2021, he took part in the activities of the second 𝗖𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗼 𝗣𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸, where he received an award for his work from Photopia, which hosted the event. Moreover, the Cima: Cinematography Exhibition chose a selection of photographs from his works to be featured within its showcase. Al-Morsy also took part in a Q&A session with the audience about his works and artistic career, along with holding a panel discussion that brought together a variety of key cinematographers of the present time.
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.
His works in 2021 also include COCO CHANEL, which marks Sharihan’s remarkable comeback, and Ahmad Alaa Aldeeb’s film AL AREF: AWDAT YOUNIS which dominated the box office, striking a balance between being among the most popular films and participating in international festivals, and for which Al Morsy won Best Cinematography Award at Cairo Film Society Festival in 2022.
His latest works as a DOP include the biggest production in the history of Arab cinema KIRA & EL GIN, which was directed by Marwan Hamed and follows the story of the Egyptian resistance against the British occupation in the early 20th century.
