'Once There Was a Boy' was screened within the inaugural edition of Rising Sun International Film Festival, which took place between 6 and 8 November in Kitakyushu, Japan. 

Directed and written by Antonious Bassily, the 27-minutes-long film premiered in January 2020 and was the only entry from Egypt at the Japanese festival.

According to a brief posted on IMDb, the film talks about "an 11-year-old boy who is grounded by his father for spoiling his work. He accidentally drops his soccer ball out of the window, decides to get it without his father knowing, and meets a friend in the street who shows him a new world."

As the festival's website states, 'Once There Was a Boy' is "a spectacular film about boys being boys and about life as a single parent in Egypt. The message of the film rings through in any culture, the meaning of family is the same for all of us and is told wonderfully in this film."

In its first edition, the Rising Sun International Film Festival showcased over 60 films from more than 20 countries of all genres as well as 10 world premieres, 20 Japanese premieres and 10 Asian premieres. 

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