Mohamed Diab / Clash

Award-winning writer and director, Mohamed Diab was born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 1977. Having migrated to Egypt, he studied commerce at Suez Canal University in Ismailia before pursuing a degree in film at the New York Film Academy.

His work is often centered on pressing Egyptian issues.

His directorial debut Cairo 678 [ANA 2012] was released a month before the Egyptian revolution and was deemed by the New York Times, "unmistakably a harbinger of that revolution."

Before Cairo 678, he wrote four films: Real Dreams, The Island, The Replacement, and Congratulations.  All which enjoyed commercial success in Egypt.

Clash he penned with his brother over 2 years. After 13 rewrites, he considered it ready. The film opened Cannes' "Un Certain Regard" in 2016 and got the attention of Tom Hanks who sent Diab a letter after seeing the movie to praise him for delivering a non-stereotypical and "enlightening depiction of modern Egypt".