Barra El Manhag, by director Amr Salama, was selected to screen at the closing ceremony of the 1st edition of Hollywood Arab Film Festival in USA (April 25th - 30th)The screening comes as part of the celebration of the Arab Heritage Month, held annually in Hollywood City in April.
Most recently, Barra El Manhag was announced to compete at the official competition of the Egyptian Catholic Center Cinema Festival in its 70th edition that shall take place from 20th to 27th of May, 2022.
The Hollywood Arab Film Festival is born right at the heart of Hollywood City, with the aim of providing Arab filmmakers with the opportunity to gather, create and showcase their work.
The festival seeks to introduce world cinema professionals to the Arab film industry, shedding light on its uniqueness and distinction.
It also aims at discussing the challenges facing the industry and ways to develop it, and creating a platform through which Western audiences can directly meet with Arab filmmakers to learn more about their cultural identity and the issues they are facing.
The film previously won big at the Annual Film Society Festival For Egyptian Cinema, reaping a number of 7 awards, and was selected as one of the best 7 films screened in 2021.
It landed its world premiere at the closing ceremony of Red Sea Film Festival in its 1st edition (December 6th – 15th, 2021), which was held in the historic city of Jeddah.
Barra El Manhag is a light-hearted drama about Nour, a 13-year-old orphan boy.
As all the boys are afraid of the haunted house right in front of the school, he's encouraged to go into the house to gain their respect, only to find an old man living there, hiding from the world.
A friendship and apprenticeship evolve between the boy and the old man, leading to a journey of self-discovery for both of them.
The film stars Maged El Kedwany and the child Omar Sharif, alongside the guests of honor Ruby, Asma Abulyazied, Ahmed Khaled Saleh, and Donia Maher.
Featuring DOP Ahmed Beshary (Chico), the film is directed by Amr Salama who wrote the story of the film and co-wrote the script alongside Khaled Diab.
It is produced by Lagoonie Film Production, and distributed locally by Dollar Film, and across the Arabian Gulf region by Orient Films. MAD Solutions handles the film’s marketing and promotion.
Founded by Producer Shahinaz Elakkad in 2017, Lagoonie Film Production is an Egyptian company that aims to develop the film and TV industry in Egypt and the Arab world through making high-quality films and TV series that address non-mainstream topics to put the Arab film and TV industry on the international map.