CAIRO - 15 March 2021:Manal Khaled's feature debut Trapped will land its world premiere within the Global section at the South By Southwest Festival, USA (March 16-20), becoming the only Arab film at the American festival and the first Egyptian one in ten years.
Due to the Covid-19 situation, the festival will be held virtually and will be streaming exclusively to 2000 viewers inside the USA.
The participating features are vying for the prestigious Film Independent Spirit awards. Trapped will screen on Thursday, March 18, at 5:00 PM (GMT-6).
Founded in 1987, South by Southwest Festival is one of the most prominent annual film festivals held in Texas, USA.
The 2021 online edition of the festival will feature a program of musical shows, film screenings, conferences as well as networking events for all those working in the entertainment industry.
Trapped evolves around a group of different women coming from different social backgrounds who find themselves trapped by their quest for freedom.
The film tackles the broader sense of getting trapped sometimes by one's own thoughts.
The entrapment here is not necessarily limited to the concrete walls and shackles, but sometimes it is imposed by the inner conflicts and thoughts.
The women share similar dreams of breaking-free from the social constraints, however their different social backgrounds create contrasts when it comes to the levels of awareness, openness and methods to rebel against their realities.
The film was screened for 13 minutes within the events of El Gouna Film Festival as part of efforts to raise funds for the film.
Furthermore, the creators of the film had launched a fundraising campaign for Trapped on Indiegogo website.
At the beginning of the shooting in 2011, the film’s creators encountered obstacles, in regards of production, which resulted in pausing the shooting more than once where no production company was available to go for the film.
Directed and produced by Manal Khaled, from a screenplay co-written by Manal Khaled and Rasha Azab, Trapped stars Caroline Khalil, Reem Higab, Osama Abo Al Ata, Ne’ma Mohsen, Mona Mokhtar, Tharaa Goubail, Rajwa Hamed, Zeina Mansour, Habiba Effat and Fadel El Garhy.
Manal Khaled is an Egyptian filmmaker who studied Philosophy at the University of Alexandria.
She worked as an assistant director at Misr International Film.
In addition, she has a vast experience working with award winning directors, including: Saad Hendawi, Kamla Abou Zekri, Hani Khalifa and Mohamed Ali. She also attended several master classes and workshops on filmmaking, screenwriting and film criticism.
Most recently, she has finished shooting her feminist long documentary film An Hour or so with the American director Adolfo Martinez.
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