Sameh Alaa's short film ‘I am Afraid to Forget Your Face’ was awarded a 'jury honorable mention' during the 2nd Annual Toronto Arab Film Festival, which took place between 27 and 31 May 2021 with the films screened online.
'I am Afraid to Forget Your Face' focuses on a young man, Adam, who embarks on a tough journey to reunite with his lover after 82 days of separation.
The film was co-written by Alaa and Mohamed Fawzy.
The film had its major success at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Palme d’Or. It was also nominated for many other recognitions, winning the Best Arab Film award at El-Gouna Film Festival (2020), as well as a prize at the Moscow International Film Festival (2020).
'I am Afraid to Forget Your Face' stars Nourhan Ahmed and Seif Hemeda.
The film has been recently released on Shahid VIP, the video-on-demand service in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The Toronto Arab Film Festival is the first festival of its kind in Toronto, focused on presenting and promoting pan-Arab films by Arab filmmakers from all over the world.
The festival offers prizes in three categories - Jury Award for Most Promising Filmmaker, Award for Best Canadian Short Film, Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film - and an honorable mention in each of them.
In the festival's first edition (10 - 19 September 2020), Egyptian feature-length documentary ‘Lift Like a Girl’, directed by Mayye Zayed, had its world premiere, followed by numerous awards garnered by the film and its director.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all screenings; panels and the festival's second edition took place virtually.
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