Egypt to Shine At Abu Dhabi Film Festival

Since revolting over three years ago, Egypt has found its cinematic voice and is looking to establish itself as a tour de force at this year’s Abu Dhabi Film Festival.

Entering not one but three films, Egypt plans hopes to walk away winners this year with strong entries that include: Ibrahim El-Batout’s El Ott  starring Amr Waked, Nadine Salib’s Um Ghayeb (Mother of the Unborn), and Ahmed Abdel-Naser’s I Exist.  

Both El Ott and Um Ghayeb will be making their world premieres and are competing against each other in the Documentary category. Meanwhile, I Exist, a ten minute long film, makes its MENA premiere competing in the Short Films competition against 13 other international entries. Opening the festival is a film entitled From A to B by Emirati director Ali Mostafa, with a screenplay by Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy.

Established in 2007, the Abu Dhabi Film Festival continues to grow exponentially with each passing festival, and is expected to bring in over 30,000 attendees this year. This year they received an impressive 1,200 submissions, choosing to feature a 197 films from 61 countries, nine of which are feature film world premieres, as well as 48 short films making their world debut.  The 10 day program is expected to be the biggest festival yet, and with the strong entries put forth, it may very well be Egypt’s year to shine.