Three films produced and distributed by Film Clinic won 6 awards at the 32nd edition of Carthage Film Festival. The awards include the festival’s top award, Golden Tanit for Feature Fiction Film, that went to Egyptian film Feathers, by Omar El Zohairy.
Feathers received 3 more awards at the narrative feature film competition: First Film Jury prize, which went to Omar El Zohairy; Prize for Best Screenplay awarded to El Zohairy and Ahmed Amer and Prize for Best Female Performance that went to Demyana Nassar.
In the same competition, Palestinian film Amira, won Special Mention. Directed by Mohamed Diab, member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the film is an Egyptian-Jordanian co-production.
After competing at the feature documentary competition, documentary film Captains of Za’atari, by Egyptian director and producer Ali El Arabi, received Special Mention. The film’s screenings at Carthage witnessed a massive turnout, which led the festival to hold 3 exceptional screenings for the film, in addition to 3 main screenings.
In addition to that, Film Clinic joined the official section out of competition of Carthage with Lebanese film Costa Brava, by Mounia Akl. The film stars director and actress Nadine Labaki and Palestinian star Saleh Bakri and will represent Lebanon in the Oscar 2022 in the category of best foreign film.
This comes two weeks after these films won three awards at El Gouna Film Festival. The awards are: El Gouna Golden Star for Best Documentary Film, which went to Captains of Za’atari; Green Star award, which went to Costa Brava and El Gouna Golden Star award for the best Arab feature film to Feathers. During the festival, Omar El Zohairy received Variety Award for the MENA talent of the year 2021.
Feathers:
Feathers creates a fantasy world following the life of a submissive wife fully dedicated to her husband and children while being stuck in the daily, repetitive, mundane chores. A sudden interesting change of events occur when a magic trick goes wrong at her 4-year-old son's birthday party, turning her husband into a chicken.
Now that the magician failed to undo the trick, the mother is forced to take control over her family and call all the shots. While looking out for her family, and trying to turn back her husband, the submissive woman rises up to the challenge and goes through a tough and quite absurd transformation.
Landing its world premiere at 2021 Cannes Film Festival, the film won the Grand Prize of the International Critics' Week, and the FIPRESCI award for the best first feature in Cannes’s parallel sections. It then received a number of other prestigious awards, including Special Mention at the New Horizons International Film Festival in Poland and Best Film at the Roberto Rossellini Awards of Pingyao International Film Festival, China.
The film is produced by the French producers Juliette Lepoutre and Pierre Menahem (Still Moving), and co-produced by Mohamed Hefzy (Film Clinic) and Shahinaz El Akkad (Lagoonie Film Production), as well as Derk-Jan Warrink and Koji Nelissen (Kepler Film), Giorgos Karnavas and Konstantinos Kontovrakis (Heretic), and Verona Meier. MENA region distribution rights are handled by Film Clinic Indie Distribution.
Amira
Amira is the first Palestinian feature film by an Egyptian director. It follows Amira, a 17-year-old Palestinian, who 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.
The film world premiered at Venice International Film Festival where it won the Lanterna Magica Award, the Interfilm Award and the CICT-UNESCO "Enrico Fulchignoni '' Award. Furthermore, it screened at Chicago International Film Festival, International Festival of Mediterranean Cinema in Montpellier (CINEMED) and El Gouna Film Festival.
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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 Gohar are the film’s producers, Hisham El Araby is the executive producer, and Daniel Ziskind is the associate producer. The film has previously received fund from The Royal Film Commission Jordan – RFC. Pyramide Films is in charge of the international sales, and its marketing is handled by MAD Solutions, which also handles the film’s distribution across the Arab world along with Lagoonie Film Production.
Captains of Za’atari
The film follows the story of two best friends; Mahmoud and Fawzi, who have been living in the Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan for five years. Despite their harsh circumstances, they kept dreaming to play soccer professionally. Their dream can possibly come true when a world-renowned sports academy visits the camp.
It is distributed across the Arab world by Film Clinic Indie Distribution and is slated to release soon in New York and Los Angeles, as of November, 2021.
Costa Brava, Lebanon
Costa Brava, Lebanon by Mounia Akl stars Nadine Labaki and Saleh Bakri. It follows a couple who decided to escape the toxic pollution of Beirut by seeking refuge in an utopic mountain home. But unexpectedly, a garbage landfill is built right outside their fence, bringing all the trash and corruption they hoped to leave behind.
The film is distributed across the Arab world by Film Clinic Indie Distribution.
