The film has been selected to compete at the Official Competition for Feature Films within the 44th Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), to be held from 13 to 22 November.
This is the only Egyptian film participating in the main competition.
“I am happy to be back at the Cairo International Film Festival,” said Abdalla in an official press release. “I am proud to announce that the Egyptian audience will be the first audience in the world to watch my film.”
Abdalla added that he wrote the film during the months of quarantine amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, the film reflects on loneliness, isolation and time, with the plot focusing on the simple story of an old guard trying to preserve his daily routine in a decrepit villa amidst a fast-changing society.
In the press release, Abdalla also revealed that he is proud to have collaborated with veteran costume designer Nahed Nasrallah and actress/producer Yara Goubran as executive producer of the film.
"This is also my third collaboration with the editor Sara Abdallah, as well as working again with producer Mohamed Hefzy. I think that the film will be surprising in terms of the cast and crew.”
The film takes place in an abandoned villa in a once-refined neighbourhood, where an old guard has been living since the 1960s. The villa has become his whole world, when suddenly, this world is turned upside down by an overzealous young man with ruthless ambition, forcing our protagonist to face his fears, his past and a world that he no longer recognises.
19B stars Sayed Ragab, Ahmed Khaled Saleh and Nahed El-Sebai, alongside Fadwa Abed, Magdy Atwan, and Maher Khamis.
Ahmad Abdalla is a critically acclaimed and award-winning Egyptian filmmaker. He started his career as a film editor in several Egyptian films, including Wara’et Shafrah, Akher Eldonia, and Ein Shams. He directed his first feature film Heliopolis in 2009, followed by the award-winning Microphone, which was selected at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) as one of the best 100 Arabic films in history.
His Rags & Tatters (2013) landed its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). He also directed Décor (2014), which was shot in black and white, and EXT/Night (2018), which won the Best Film Award at the Malmo Arab Film Festival (MAFF), the Jury Award at the Luxor International Film Festival, and four other awards at the Egyptian National Film Festival.
Abdalla was also selected as a jury member in a number of prestigious film festivals including the Carthage Film Festival in 2012, BFI London Film Festival in 2014, and Dubai International Film Festival in 2017.
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