The film deals with a real-life phenomenon of Palestinian children conceived via IVF using the smuggled sperm of Palestinian political prisoners languishing in Israeli jails.
Palestinian film Amira, by director Mohamed Diab, will have its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival within the Orizzonti competition. The event will take place from September 1-11.
Amira is Mohamed Diab’s third film as a director after 678 (2010) and his hit film Clash (Eshtebak) (2016), which nabbed over 30 international awards. The film is set in Palestine and marks the first Palestinian film by an Egyptian director.
The film deals with a real-life phenomenon of Palestinian children conceived via IVF using the smuggled sperm of Palestinian political prisoners languishing in Israeli jails. Amira, a 17-year-old Palestinian, was conceived with the smuggled sperm of her imprisoned father, Nawar. Although their relationship since birth has been restricted to prison visits, he remains her hero. His absence in her life is overcompensated with love and affection from those surrounding her. But when a failed attempt to conceive another child reveals Nawar’s infertility, Amira’s world turns upside down.
Amira features a pan-Arab cast, including Saba Mubarak, Ali Suliman, Tara Abboud, who lands her first cinematic leading role as Amira, Kais Nashif and Waleed Zuaiter. The film is written by the trio Mohamed, Khaled, and Sherine Diab and edited by Ahmed Hafez who previously worked with Mohamed Diab on Clash.
The film is produced by Film Clinic (Mohamed Hefzy), Agora Audiovisuals (Mona Abdelwahab), Acamedia Pictures (Moez Masoud), in co-production with Taher Media Production (Youssef El Taher) and The Imaginarium Films (Rula Nasser). Also, Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad, Amira Diab and Sarah Goher are the film’s producers. The film’s marketing is handled by MAD Solutions, which also handles the film’s distribution along with Lagoonie Film Production across the Arab world.
Held annually in Venice, Italy, Venice International Film Festival is one of the world’s most prominent film festivals that showcases the year’s most significant films. The festival’s current edition is presided by Bong Joon Ho, the Oscar-winning director of the South Korean film (Parasite).
Mohamed Diab is an award-winning writer and director whose work usually addresses issues related to the Egyptian society. Diab started his career as a writer with the blockbuster Egyptian franchise El Gezira (The Island) films that are considered to be the highest-grossing Egyptian and Arabic films of all times. He followed that by writing a number of hit films, including Badal Faqed (Replacement) and 1000 Mabrouk (Congratulations).
