New Year's season movies in Egypt

CAIRO - 2 November 2018: The local “mid” cinematic season runs in December and January. Local film critics named it the “calm competition”, where new films are preparing to be released while others were postponed from previous seasons.

Numerous Egyptian film producers decided to postpone the release of their films during previous seasons, avoiding competition with mega stars' films. However, other producers decided to face the competition, especially in light of the small number of produced films.

"122"

The film “122” is expected to be released in the new local “mid” season, starring Tarek Lotfy, Ahmed Dawood, Amina Khalil, Jihane Khalil, Ahmed el-Fishawy, Mohamed Lotfy and Asmaa Galal. The film is directed by Yasir al-Yasiri and written by Salah el-Gihiny.

Genre: Action/Suspense

“122” is the first Egyptian film to use the 4DX technology, which allows the observer to literally “live” the film while watching as it combines many sensory factors.

The film is expected to be released in theatres on Jan. 23, 2019.

“Demagh Shaitan” (Devil’s Mind)

This film is expected to be released in Dec. or Jan., and is produced by Ahmed Abdel Basset, who has not confirm the exact release date yet. Filming of the movie has not yet been completed, as five more days are required. The scenes will be filmed in numerous districts around Cairo, such as Imbaba and el-Hataba.

“Demagh Shaitan” (Devil’s Mind) stars Rania Youssef, Bassem Samra, Salwa Khattab, Nadia Khairy and Amr Abed. The movie is written by Amr el-Daly and directed by Karim Ismail. Editing of the movie is done by one of the biggest film production firms in the USA.

“Zinzana 7” (Prison Cell #7)

This film is also expected to be released during Dec. – Jan. The movie is starring Nedal al-Shafe'i, Ahmed Zaher, Ola Ghanem, Menna Fadaly, Maya Nasri and others.

“Zinzana 7” is written by Hossam Mousa and directed by Ebram Nashaat. Almost 70 percent of the movie has been filmed, while the remaining scenes are currently being filmed in Hurghada.

The film revolves around not judging people by the looks, as it may be deceiving.

“El-Kenz II” (The treasure II)

The producer of the film decided to release it during the upcoming film season (Dec. - Jan.) after postponing its release during Eid el-Adha (Muslim feast). A local and regional promotion campaign for the film has been launched as the movie's shooting and editing are completed.

“El-Kenz” is directed by Sherif Arafa and written by Abdel Rahim Kamal. The film stars Mohamed Ramadan, Mohamed Saad, Rubi, Hend Sabry, Ahmed Rizk, Haitham Ahmed Zaki and Sawsan Badr.

The film revolves around a man named Hassan Beshr, who returns to Egypt after studying Egyptology in Europe. The man later finds a will left in a house in Luxor by his late father, which takes him on a series of incidents throughout the movie.
The film takes place in the Ottoman and Pharaonic eras in Egypt.

“Karmat Beyetkarmat”

This film stars Ahmed Adam and is directed by Lebanese director A’sd Fwladkar. The movie's filming is almost finished to get ready for editing soon. The film is written by Abdallah Hassan.

The cast also includes Bayoumi Fouad, Mohamed Tharwat and Mai Selim.

The film is a continuation of a character that Adam previously played, Karmouti, in the films “Maalesh Ehna Benetbahdel” (Sorry, we are being demeaned) and “Karmouti fe Ard el-Nar” (Karmouti in the land of fire).

In the same context, some of the films that currently screen, such as “El-Badla” (The suit), will continue to screen during the next season.

Mohmoud Dafrawy, head of the films distribution network in Egypt, commented that the upcoming film season will be extremely short and incompetent. Dafarawy also mentioned that foreign movies currently dominate the local film theaters and will continue to do so until mid 2019.