While Omar may have scooped many of the headlines at last December’s Dubai International Film Festival, another winner – and another of DIFF’s own Enjaaz-funded films – was Factory Girl. The film, which saw the celebrated Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Khan’s return to the director’s chair after seven years, is a heartfelt romance set across contemporary Egypt’s class and gender divides. It was given its world premiere in the Madinat Arena and today, almost three months on, is finally getting its full release across UAE cinemas.
Following on from DIFF 2013, which saw the newcomer Wadjda’s Waad Mohammed take the Best Actress award, this time around it was Factory Girl’s lead Yasmeen Raees, another relatively unknown name, who won over the judges. She plays the titular factory girl Hayam, a textile worker who falls for her boss, thus opening an intricate human window into the divides within Egyptian society.
But although Raees may be among the most promising young actresses to have emerged from Egypt in recent years, UAE audiences would usually struggle to see a talent such as her on the big screen, which is generally dominated by major Hollywood or Bollywood titles.
“In general, no one is taking Egyptian cinema seriously when it comes to regional distribution as there are only very few names who can make decent revenues with their films,” claims Alaa Karkouti, the founder of the Egyptian distributor MAD Solutions, looking after Factory Girl. “So taking the risk is something unusual in this industry.”
Another unusual move is that Factory Girl is coming out across UAE cinemas at almost the same time as in Egypt, the first time this has occurred for several years, with UAE scheduling usually months, if not years, behind. Thankfully, it won’t be the last Egyptian film to be given such a treatment.
“We’re working on a new strategy for all our Arab films to try to make it the same day and date release across the Arab world,” says Abdallah Al-Chami, the managing partner of MAD’s GCC bureau. “It’s what the industry needs to make it more popular and solid.”
Other titles to be released by the company include Coming Forth By Day, Hala Lotfy’s impressive debut about a frustrated Cairo woman, The Mice Room; which also debuted at DIFF 2013 and interweaves six short stories from Alexandria; and Chaos, Disorder, which won the jury prize at DIFF in 2012 but is being given another push in the region.
“There’s the appetite for Egyptian cinema in the UAE, but it’s about choosing the right films. It’s not about the cheap comedies anymore,” says Karkouti, adding that Coming Forth By Day is likely to be the next release. “It’s about the way you are positioning each film and its potential targeted audience.”
