An upcoming Egyptian film Barcodia which is written, directed and produced by Magy Anwar, explores an alternative reality, and forsakes conversation.

Barcodia is set in a fictional world, where a device is used to reveal the true colours of everyone, and particularly for choosing life partners. The film presents problems in the Arab World through three narratives.

The film stands out in the contemporary film scene for its lack of verbal dialogue, silent communication between its characters and as the first Egyptian silent film in a long time. It is reportedly in post-production stage.

The Stars of Barcodia include Shady El-Daly, Mahmoud Emam, Ahmed Hassan, Sherif El-Wassimy and Emad Mattar.

After graduating from the faculty of Commerce in Egypt, Anwar began her career writing reviews for foreign films, before she turned to film directing.

She recently won an award for her film El-Fatena (The Beautiful), which was screened at Cannes. The film pays homage to the late Egyptian starlet Faten Hamama, and is about her last interview, which took place just one day prior to her death.

Owner of production house Magica House, Anwar was the founder of Mansoura Film Festival, and the still running Faten Hamama Film Festival for short films, which takes place annually in January and is currently accepting submissions for its next edition.

She was also the first female allowed to film in Saudi Arabia’s desert. Anwar has initiated many workshops, including one for short films in Saudi Arabia that was attended by 90 women, and another workshop for children in Morocco.

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