Famed Collector Sells Golden Age Treasure Trove to Ministry of Culture

There are those who have hobbies, there are those who have passions, and then there’s Makram Salama. Spending 50 years of his life collecting any and everything related to Egyptian cinema, Salama is a regular citizen with a big love for film. That love has led him to gain some notoriety for his impressive collection, which is now being sold to the Ministry of Culture.

In an unexpected turn of events, Salama took to Facebook on December 12th to announce that he wants to sell his collection. In the pictures attached, it’s clear that the items fill up an entire room. Quick on its feet, the Ministry of Culture contacted Salama to buy the collection from him.

The famed archive includes hundreds of posters of Egyptian films, 500 documentaries, 10,000 slides, an 8-mm family film collection, 50 display machines, spare parts for said display machines, about 400 recorded films and plays produced by a production company that no longer exists, a library of Arabic and English books, around one thousand issues of Al-Musawar magazine, issues of ‘Akher Sa’aa’ and ‘Al Fan’ magazines, and an assortment of newspapers from the 70s.