Kira & El Gin brings a new take on the Egyptian revolution of 1919. The story follows a group of people coming from different walks of life who join hands to fight the tyranny of the British occupation in their own way. With an ironclad will, these guys fight tooth and nail for their mutual cause. Kira &El Gen is a story of love, patriotism, and an unknown sacrifice from a well-known account of Egyptian history.
Marwan Hamed
Marwan is an Egyptian prominent filmmaker with over 20 years of experience. His debut feature and award-winning film, The Yacoubian Building (2006), was the most costly film ever made in Egyptian cinema at the time. He also directed The Blue Elephant (2014) and the sequel Blue Elephant: Dark Whispers (2019), which dominated the box office and became the highest-grossing film back then. His latest film, Kira & El Gen (2022), is a historical drama set in the 1920s, based on novelist Ahmed Mourad's best-selling work 1919.
During a routine patrol in a mountainous location in Southern Yemen, a UAE army vehicle is ambushed by enemy combatants, as it travels through a narrow canyon. Trapped and under heavy fire from the armed militants, and now facing a desperate situation, their courageous unit commander attempts a daring mission to rescue his trapped soldiers.
Pierre Morel
Pierre is a filmmaker based in France. He is known for Taken (2008) and The Gunman (2015). His recent feature Al Kameen (2021), was introduced in South Korea earlier this year.
Hadi, a famous Lebanese actor, is shortlisted for the role of the young pope in an international production. He decides to hole up, getting away from his hectic life, in the heart of Qannoubine. As he continues his pilgrimage, he almost hits a young woman, whose name is Celine, riding a bicycle. Following the accident, he stumbles upon a bunch of nuns. They are outspoken and insist on hosting Hadi in their monastery, where Celine, the beautiful cyclist, resides while trying to find a new meaning to her life.
Lara Saba
In college, Lara worked as a director and an assistant director on series, commercials, and films. Her first feature Blind Intersections (2013), was nominated at over 20 international festivals, and was awarded Best Movie at the Mabrouk and Malmo Film Festival, awarded Best Actor at the Brussels International Independent Film Festival, and was the Lebanese entry to the Academy Awards Best Foreign Film section at the 86th Academy Awards.
In the region of Guelma, a small village called Heliopolis , the daily life of an Algerian family takes its usual course. But on May 8, 1945, the day the end of World War II was announced, demonstrations by the Algerian people against the French colonial power and for the country's independence took place, which were bloodily suppressed by the French army and French settler militias. The event went down in history as the Sétif and Guelma massacre.
Djaffar Gacem
Djaffar Gacem is a filmmaker known for Sultan Ashour 10 (2015), Nass Mlah City (2002-2006) and Héliopolis (2021).
Snam, is an experienced traveler of the desert, seeking to reunite with his pregnant wife. He finds a shorter route to get back to his village, which forces him to split from his peers. As he rides his horse through the golden sand, he encounters a group of bandits that strips him away from his belongings and his horse. As he crosses the vast desert, he realizes that there is a lone wolf dangerously tracking his footsteps.
Moe Alatawi
Moe’s latest work, Within Sand (2022), has received the Jury Prize at the Red Sea International Film Festival for Best Feature Film in 2022. He has been involved in numerous projects in the entertainment industry in Saudi Arabia and globally while studying for a Master of Arts in Creative Business at the National Film & Television School (NFTS).
Waleed lives in Haifa with his wife and children and dreams of a writing career while suffering from chronic depression. He develops a close relationship with his neighbor (a small-time crook) with an ulterior plot in mind. While the scheme turns into an unexpected friendship between the two men, it leads them into a journey of dark encounters.
Maha Haj
Maha majored in English and Arabic literature and wrote and directed her short Oranges (2009) and the documentary Behind These Walls (2010). Her first feature Personal Affairs (2015), was selected in the 2016 Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection, “Un Certain Regard,” and was critically acclaimed.
Gossip and violence run rampant deep in the labyrinthine alleys of East Amman. Ali, a hustler pretending to be a businessman, has to keep his relationship with Lana a secret in order to hide from society’s judgemental eye. Things start to fall apart when Lana’s mother, Aseel, is blackmailed by an unknown voyeur who has filmed the young couple. Hoping to avoid embarrassment, Aseel discreetly convinces Abbas, a ruthless gangster, to put a stop to it all, but things do not go as planned. Their lives start to intertwine and collide not only with each other, but with other neighbors living in the same alleys.
Bassel Ghandour
Bassel is known for writing and producing the 2016 Oscar Nominee and BAFTA-winning film Theeb (2014). His directorial debut, The Alleys (2021), premiered at the prestigious Piazza Grande of the 2021 Locarno Film Festival. Currently, he’s directing a docuseries that follows the journey of five Syrian footballers recruited to play professional football in Brazil.
The film deals with the profession of cultivation and manufacture of Omani red sugar in a cinematic way. It dealt with the human aspect and the economic and social aspects of this profession, and how some families maintained this profession, which mixed between pleasure and difficulties in the production process and the extent of acceptance of modernization, while documenting important aspects with concern to the competent authorities.
Salah Al-Hadhrami
Salah Al-Hadhrami directs both narrative and documentary films and is a member of the Omani Film Society. His films have participated in several local and international festivals and have won several awards. Moreover, he participated in a number of in-kind productions for charity groups.
Druj is the local name for a type of amphibious organism or shellfish that live in the sea and in the sand. Druj live in an environment full of fear and anxiety, in the sea they are afraid of fish and marine creatures devouring them, and on the beach they are afraid of birds, wild animals and humans, so they only have the shell in which they hide. A short film reflecting a widow’s life and anxiety on a sea creature.
Hamid Al Ameri
Hamid Al Ameri is a graduate of the Arab School of Cinema and Television. He won two prizes at the Muscat Film Festival - third prize for a documentary short Al-Haqqam, and the Golden Prize for Memory as a Stone. Another film of his, White Gold, won the Best Documentary Film at the 2021 AD Cinemana Arab Film Festival 2021. His recent narrative short, The Druj (2022), won awards at festivals in diverse nations, including Algeria and Morocco.