Said El Marouk
سعيد الماروق
Latest work · Netflix · 30 Oct
النفس المطمئنة ObsessA man returns to Kuwait to mourn his father, and is drawn back into the grip of an obsessive love. Written by Eyad Saleh; starring Haya Abdulsalam, Yaqoub Al-Farhan and Laila Abdallah.
Selected work as director
Obsess
النفس المطمئنة
Beit Hadam
بيت هدام
Crime of Love
جناية حب
Djinn Wedding
عرس الجن
Amina's Monster
وحش أمينة
Monster of the Bank
وحش البنوك
The Deep State
الدولة العميقة
The Money
الفلوس
365 Days of Happiness
٣٦٥ يوم سعادة
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Second unit director and visual consultant to Michael Bay on the Egyptian shoot (Paramount · DreamWorks).
A language of image and gesture.
Born in Beirut in 1969 to deaf parents, Said El Marouk grew up fluent in a language made of image and gesture. It is still the language he directs in.
He trained at the University Film Academy of Belgrade and in Düsseldorf, then spent the nineties in Germany as a first AD, editor and cameraman, and as a director and reporter for German and Arab broadcasters.
Back in Beirut he directed more than seventy music videos for the biggest names in Arabic music, before moving into long form: his Egyptian feature debut, then a run of pan-Arab dramas. In 2022 he founded Level 7 Pictures.
Thirty years, four countries
- 1969Beirut
Born in Beirut to deaf parents.
- 1988–1992Belgrade · Düsseldorf
University Film Academy of Belgrade, then Düsseldorf.
- 1992–2000Germany
First AD, editor, cameraman; reporter for German and Arab TV.
- 2000–2004Beirut
More than seventy music videos. Best Special Effects, 2000.
- 2005–2009Beirut · Dubai
Founds S.M Production, Seven Entertainments, Beywood Pictures and Room 11.
- 2009Egypt
2nd unit director on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
- 2011Cairo
Feature debut, 365 Days of Happiness.
- 2019–2023Pan-Arab
The Money, The Deep State.
- 2022Lebanon
Founds Level 7 Pictures.
- 2024Beirut
The Lebanese Achievement award at BIAF.
- 2025–2026Kuwait
Monsters, Crime of Love, Djinn Wedding.
- Oct 2026Netflix
Obsess premieres on 30 October 2026.
- 2027Shasha
Beit Hadam, for Ramadan 2027.
Seventy videos. One generation.
From 2000 he directed more than seventy music videos for the biggest names in Arabic music, and has continued since.
Watch the reel on Vimeo ↗ (opens in a new tab)- Kadim El Saher
- Elissa
- Najwa Karam
- Haifa Wehbe
- Nawal El Zoghby
- Sherine
- Magida El Roumy
- Mohamad Mounir
- Wael Kfoury
- Fadel Shaker
- Assala
- Nawal El Kuwaitiya
- Assi El Hellany
- Rami Ayach
- Fares Karam
- Suzanne Tamim
- Madeleine Matar
- Moein Shreif
- Rouwaida El Mahrouki
- Samo Zein
- Houwaida
- Ahmad Al Abdallah
- Abdallah Rashad
- Melhem Zein
Awards and standing
- S.M Production · Beirut
- Seven Entertainments · Dubai
- Beywood Pictures · Beirut
- Room 11 · post-production, Beirut
- Level 7 Pictures · 2022
- Commercials, including El Abd Patisserie for Saatchi & Saatchi Egypt
- Live concerts across Western Europe
- Reporter for German and Arab TV