The shortlists of the 93rd Academy Awards will be unveiled early next year with the awards ceremony slated to take place in April in Los Angeles, US.
Egyptian distributor Film Clinic has nominated three Arab co-productions for the 93rd Academy Awards. These films include: When We’re Born by Tamer Ezzat (Egypt), 200 Meters by Ameen Nayfeh (Jordan), and You Will Die at Twenty by Amjad Abu Alala (Sudan). The latter marks Sudan’s first submission to the Oscars. The three films have been selected and awarded at several international festivals between 2019 and 2020.
The shortlists of the 93rd Academy Awards will be unveiled early next year. The Oscars ceremony is slated to take place in April 2021, in Los Angeles, USA.
When We’re Born follows three stories are interwoven with songs about love. Amin is a newly married young man, who accepts working as a male prostitute in order to realize his wife’s dream of having their own apartment. Farah, the devout Christian falls in love with a Muslim young man and is faced with the dilemma of marrying the man she loves or waiting until she meets someone from the same religious background. Ahmed, the musician, comes from a rich family and must choose between his love to his father and a career in music.
Written by Nadine Shams, When We’re Born stars Amir Eid, Amr Abed, Ibtihal El Sereity, Salma Hassan and Mohamed Hatem.
200 Meters follows Mustafa and his wife, Salwa, who find themselves torn apart by the Israeli separation wall that divided the Palestinian landscape. When Mustafa’s son falls ill and with no approved permission to reach his family, he finds himself with three other men in a challenging journey to break through the wall. A 200 meters distance turns into a 200 Km journey. The film stars Ali Suliman, Anna Unterberger, Lana Zreik, Gassan Abbas.
You Will Die at Twenty follows the story of Muzamil and a prophecy about him that he will die at age 20. The film is directed by Amjad Abu Alala who co-written it with Youssef Ibrahim. It stars Mustafa Shehat, Islam Mubark, Mahmoud Elsaraj, Bunna Khalid and Talal Afifi.
Commenting on the films, Mohamed Hefzy, founder of Film Clinic commented: “We are proud that the three films have been selected to represent their countries at the Academy Awards, the world’s most prestigious award. Since the early stage of production, we believed that these films will take the Arab cinema industry to a step further which they did indeed, garnering wide audience and critical acclaim the world over, and most remarkably, drawing a vast audience base that was not familiar with similar types of films.”
