Egyptian acclaimed director Omar El-Zohairy will celebrate the world premier of his debut feature film ‘Reesh’ (‘Feathers’) within the upcoming Cannes Film Festival’s parallel Critics’ Week (‘Semaine de la Critique’), taking place from 7 to 15 July, after being selected for its official competition.

“This is the same competition through which directors started like; Ken Loach (British), Bernardo Bertolucci (Italian), along with Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro (Mexican),” stated President of the Cairo International Film Festival Mohamed Hefzy, whose production company Film Clinic is the co-producer and MENA distributor of Feathers.

Produced by French Juliette Lepoutre and Pierre Menahem, Feathers’ credits combine many Egyptian skilled crewmembers like Ahmed Amer (screenplay), Kamal Samy (cinematography), and Hisham Saqr (sound).

“All the thanks for the French producer and partners from France, Netherlands, and Greece, and special thanks to Egyptians for believing in the film and in Omar El-Zohairy,” the prominent filmmaker Hefzy added, congratulating the director and the crew.

The 112-minute Arabic-language film’s cast includes Demyana Nassar, Samy Bassouny, Fady Mina Fawzy, Abu Sefen Nabil Wesa, and Mohamed Abd El-Hady.

The first representation for Egypt at Semaine de la Critique, Feathers explores the adventures of a stuck-in- a repetitive-daily-routine mother after a magician mistakenly turns her strict husband into a chicken as she tries to survive while going through a rough and absurd transformation.

Cairo’s High Institute of Cinema graduate Omar El-Zohairy worked as an assistant director on feature films of Egypt’s most prominent filmmakers, including Yousri Nasrallah.

Zohairy’s first short film, ‘Breathe Out’ (‘Zafir’), premiered at the 8th Dubai International Film Festival and won the Muhr Special Jury Prize for Short Films.

His second short film, ‘The Aftermath of the Inauguration of the Public Toilet at Kilometre 375’, was the first Egyptian film to be selected for the Cinéfondation competition at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, the film went on to win several awards around the world.

Feathers will be competing with Colombian Simón Mesa Soto’s ‘Amparo’, Somalian Khadar Ayderus Ahmed’s ‘The Gravedigger’s Wife’, Spanish Clara Roquet’s ‘Libertad’, French Elie Grappe’s ‘Olga’, Italian Laura Samani’s ‘Piccolo Corpo’, and French Julie Lecoustre and Emmanuel Marre’s ‘Rien à foutre’.

Feathers was chosen from nearly a thousand nominees by a committee under the helm of artistic director Charles Tesson for the prestigious Semaine de la Critique that will also see a contest for short films as well as special screenings.

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