Amr Salama / Excuse My French

We are very happy to welcome back Amr Salama to the 2015 edition of ANA Contemporary Arab Cinema. You may remember his film Asmaa which screened in 2013. 

"Salama released his first feature Zay El Naharda (On a Day Like Today) in 2008. The movie was enthusiastically received and Salama was named  "Best New Director in 2008."

In 2009, he submitted a script for his second movie, Excuse My French, based on his experiences at a public school in Egypt after returning from Saudi Arabia. The film was rejected by the Censorship Board on the grounds that "there is no sectarianism in Egypt" 

Salama abandoned the project and began work on what became his second film, the AIDS-themed Asmaa, which premiered at the Abu Dhabi International Film Festival and over its run on the festival circuit won 18 awards including "Best Arab Director".

After the 2011 Egyption Revolution, Salama re-submitted the script for Excuse my French, but it was rejected again. Salama said that "[The Censorship Board] thought his film would provoke Christians, and could cause a civil war." With the eventual appointment of another director to the Censorship Board, the movie was finally approved.

In 2014, Salama released Made in Egypt about a little girl and her desire for her stuffed animal and her older brother to switch bodies. (Wikipedia)