‘Yomeddine’ to partcipate in GIFF

CAIRO – 23 June – 2018: The Egyptian movie “Yomeddine” (Day of Judgment) will partcipate in the second edition of El-Gouna International Film Festival running from September 20 to 28. ‎“Yomeddine” was awarded the Francois Chalais Prize at the Cannes International Film festival on Friday.

“Yomeddine” was competing for the Cannes Festival’s most prestigious award, the Palm d'Or award. The official website of Cannes International Film Festival previously announced that the Egyptian feature was also nominated for the Golden Camera award, which is granted each year to the best first-time director at the festival.

The tragic comedy “Yomeddine” revolves around a leprosy patient who escapes from the hospital along with one of his friends in order to search for his family. “Yomeddine” is directed by Egyptian-Austrian director Abu Bakr Shawky, who became the first Egyptian to be invited to the main competition of the Cannes Film Festival.

The 71st Cannes Film Festival held a press conference with the Egyptian filmmakers of “Yomeddine” after its screening at the festival on Wednesday, May 9. The screening was attended by many international actors, including Julianne Moore, Louise Bourgoin and Kiko Mizuhara. All the attendees praised the movie’s construction and drama line, as well as the directing technique adopted by Shawky in his debut feature.

The first Egyptian movie participating in Cannes Film Festival’s main competition managed to grab the attention of all those who watched it. International media platforms were keen to put the spotlight on “Yomeddine”, writing extremely positive reviews about the movie, which presents an innovative mixture of tragedy, comedy, and condensed shots of emotions and sentiments.

“A man who has recovered from leprosy goes in search of the father who abandoned him in a sentimental drama that infantilizes its lead character,” wrote Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian.

“Recalling about a thousand other titles, with the Lynch films ‘The Elephant Man’ and ‘The Straight Story’ definitely near the top of the list, this is a picaresque road movie about two mismatched characters, with rookie director A.B. Shawky offering a motley and not entirely smooth cocktail of drama and melodrama, a dash of social critique and insight, some chuckles and a few tugs at the heartstrings, mainly by virtue of its near-virtuoso score,” wrote Boyd van Hoeij in The Hollywood Reporter.

“A lovingly made, character-driven road movie that occasionally dips into sentimentality, yet has moments that honestly play on the heartstrings,” wrote Jay Weissberg in Variety.
El-Gouna Film Festival (GIFF) held a reception in Cannes Film Festival, in association with Variety magazine, to celebrate the upcoming GIFF second edition.

In this regard, Naguid Sawiris, founder of El-Gouna Film Festival (GIFF), invited some talents from Cannes Film Festival to the reception. GIFF team Bushra, Tamimi, and artistic director, Amir Ramses, also attended “Yomeddine” screening during the grand opening of Festival de Cannes’s main competition.
GIFF management previously anounced that the deadline of the submissions for the Feature Narrative Competition, Feature Documentary Competition and Short Film Competition; is set to be on July 22, 2018.

The selected films will compete for total prizes of $220,000. Winners in all categories will be awarded the El Gouna Gold Star for Best Film. Silver and Bronze Star awards will be given to those who claim the first and second ranks. An award will also be given to the best film from the Arab world in each of the three competitions. In addition, the Feature Narrative Competition will also present an award for the best actor and actress of the competing films.

The closing ceremony of the first edition of El Gouna Film Festival was on Sept. 29, 2017. It was attended by a notable group of Egyptian and international filmmakers, like Vanessa Williams and famous American actor Forest Whitaker, who won the lifetime achievement award. The festival’s management showed a documentary that features Whitaker’s most important acting roles.

“Photocopy” won El Gouna Golden Star Award for the Best Arabic Feature Narrative Film (the prize includes atrophy, a certificate and $20,000). Daniel Gimenez Cacho, who starred in “Zama”, won the Best Actor Award, while the Best Actress Award went to Nadia Kunda, who starred in “Volubilis”. The closing ceremony was presented by famous Egyptian actress Amina Khalil and ended with the populat song “ Talat Dakat” ( Three Heartbeats) tailor-made for the festival by the mega star, Yousra and the Egyptian singer Abu .