A. Amin, T. Ezzat, A. Salama: Tahrir 2011
Born in 1982, Amr Salama received no formal education in film, and his self-produced short films were no indication that a major new Egyptian talent would emerge with the launch of his first film, Zay el Naharda (On a Day Like Today) in 2008. In 2009, he was officially recognized with a special mention as one of the brightest stars in the future of Egyptian cinema. His second film, Asmaa, starring Hend Sabri, premiered at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2011.
A graduate of Physics and Electronics from the American University in Cairo in 1994, Tamer Ezzat caught the acting bug on the University’s Wallace Theater stage. Soon after, he turned his attention to cinema and began working as an editor for Youssef Chahine Isokout Hansawwar and Yousry Nasrallah Isobyan wa Banat, Al-Madina, followed by a stint a as a producer/assistant director in TV commercials. After receiving a Fulbright fellowship to study at the Center for Advanced Digital Applications (CADA) at New York University, he moved to the states, and while in NY, simultaneously pursued a degree in film directing at the New York Film Academy. Following the events of 9/11, he shifted his attention to a documentary about Egyptians living in the city, Everything is Gonna Be Alright won the prestigious State Encouragement Award in 2005. His latest film, a cinema verite documentary called The Place I Call Home(2009) was officially selected in more than 13 festivals and received four awards. Tamer Ezzat’s writing and directorial feature debut, The Ring Road is currently in postproduction.
A native of Alexandria, Ayten Amin was born in 1978. She started work as an assistant and was then made director. Three of the documentaries she’s been involved in have been shown at a number of festivals and won several awards, most notably in Clermont-Ferrand. One of them, Her Man, considered to be ”an important experiment in the independent cinema movement in Egypt” was bought by Canal+ (2008). Ayten is currently preparing her first feature for which she was granted the first ever Cairo Film Connection Award in December 2010.