Egyptian short film El-Toraa (The Call of the Brook), directed by Jad Chahine, will have its world premiere in the Cannes Film Festival's La Cinef section.

The 12-minute film, El-Toraa, is the only Egyptian short film participating in the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival (CFF) scheduled to take place between 16 and 27 April 2023.

The festival released a list of short films to be screened in both Short Film Competition and La Cinef (La Cinéfondation) segment, on 25 April.

La Cinef is a segment of the CFF devoted to the search for new talent. It was created in 1998 to inspire and support the next generation of international filmmakers.

In its 26th edition this year, La Cinef saw 2,000 films submitted by hundreds of film schools from all over the world.

Egyptian El-Toraa made it to the final selection which includes 16 short and medium-length films. It's worth noting that the selection includes also Ayyurr by Zineb Wakrim, the first-ever film from Morocco to enter this segment.

The Jury chaired by Ildikó Enyedi will give out three La Cinef awards during a ceremony that will be followed by the screening of the awarded films on 25 April.

Jad Chahine is an Egyptian indie filmmaker. Born in 1996, he studied filmmaking at the Higher Institute of Cinema, the Academy of Arts, Cairo, and graduated in 2018.

El-Toraa follows a young boy who goes to a cursed brook and witnesses something that will seal his fate.

The film is also written by Chahine, and stars Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, Heba Khayal and Sarah Shedid.