CAIRO - 27 July 2021: The 78 th Venice International Film Festival , which will run from Sept.1 till Sept.11.; announced
the selection of Palestinian film Amira, by director Mohamed Diab to compete within the
Orizzonti competition.
Amira is Mohamed Diab’s third film as a director after 678 (2010) and his hit film Clash
(Eshtebak) (2016), which nabbed over 30 international awards.
The film is set in Palestine and marks the first Palestinian film by an Egyptian director.
Amira, a 17-year-old Palestinian, was conceived with the smuggled sperm of her imprisoned
father, Nawar.
Although their relationship since birth has been restricted to prison visits, he
remains her hero.
His absence in her life is overcompensated with love and affection from
those surrounding her.
But when a failed attempt to conceive another child reveals Nawar’s
infertility, Amira’s world turns upside down.
Amira features a stellar Pan-Arab cast, including Saba Mubarak, Ali Suliman, and Tara Abboud,
who lands her first cinematic leading role as Amira.
They will be joined by Kais Nashif and
Waleed Zuaiter. The film is written by the trio Mohamed, Khaled, and Sherine Diab and edited by
Ahmed Hafez who previously worked with Mohamed Diab on Clash film.
The film is produced by Film Clinic (Mohamed Hefzy), Agora Audiovisuals (Mona
Abdelwahab), Acamedia Pictures (Moez Masoud), in Co- production with Taher Media Production (Youssef El Taher) and The Imaginarium Films (Rula Nasser).
Also, Palestinian director
Hany Abu-Assad, Amira Diab and Sarah Goher are the film’s producers. The film’s marketing is handled by MAD Solutions, which also handles the film’s distribution along with Lagoonie Film
Production across the Arab world.
Held annually in Venice, Italy, Venice International Film Festival is one of the world’s most
prominent film festivals that showcases the year’s most significant films. The festival’s current
edition is presided by Bong Joon Ho, the Oscar-winning director of the South Korean film
(Parasite).
Mohamed Diab is an award-winning writer and director whose work usually addresses issues
related to the Egyptian society. Diab started his career as a writer with the blockbuster Egyptian
franchise El Gezira (The Island) films that are considered to be the highest-grossing Egyptian
and Arabic films of all times. He followed that by writing a number of hit films, including Badal
Faqed (Replacement) and 1000 Mabrouk (Congratulations). As a director, Diab kick started his
career by directing the film 678 (2010), which was described by the New York Times as an
“unmistakably harbinger of the revolution”. In 2016, he directed Clash (Eshtebak) that opened
the Un Certain Regard section of the 69th Cannes Film Festival and was highly acclaimed by
critics and many international A-list stars, including Tom Hanks.
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