FEATHERS
by Omar El Zohairy
Written by Ahmed Amer
Co-written by Omar El Zohairy
France / Egypt / The Netherland / Greece
Nespresso Grand Prize at Critic’s Week 2021
FIPRESCI Award Cannes 2021
SYNOPSIS
A passive mother who dedicates her life to her husband and children. Stuck in daily, repetitive, mundane chores, she has made herself as little as she possibly could. When a magic trick goes wrong at her 4-year-old son’s birthday party, an avalanche of coincidental absurdities befalls the family. The magician turns her husband, the authoritarian father, into a chicken. The mother is now forced to come to the fore and take care of the family while moving heaven and earth to bring her husband back. As she tries to survive, she goes through a rough and absurd transformation.
DIRECTOR’S BIO
Omar El Zohairy studied film directing at the High Institute of Cinema in Cairo and worked as an assistant director on feature films of Egypt’s most prominent filmmakers, including Yousri Nasrallah. Zohairy’s first short film, Breathe Out (Zafir), premiered at the 8th Dubai International Film Festival and won the Muhr Special Jury Prize for Short Films. His second short film, The Aftermath of the Inauguration of the Public Toilet at Kilometre 375, was the first Egyptian film to be selected for the Cinéfondation competition at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, the film went on to win several awards around the world He just completed his first feature film, Feathers, selected at the 60th International Critic’s Week, Cannes 2021.
CAST AND CREW
Director/ Writer – Omar El Zohairy
Produced by Juliette Lepoutre
Associate Producer – Pierre Menahem
Coproducers – Mohamed Hefzy, Shahinaz Al Akkad, Derk-Jan Warrink, Koji Nelissen, Giorgos Karnavas Konstantinos Kontovrakis, Verona Meier
A Production by Still Moving
Coproduced with Film Clinic and Lagoonie Film Production (Egypt), Kepler Film (The Netherlands), Heretic (Greece)
DOP – Kamal Samy
Editor – Hisham Saqr
Sound – Ahmed Adnan, Julien Gonnord, Alexis Jung, Niels Barletta
Production designer – Assem Ali
Cast – Demyana Nassar, Samy Bassouny, Fady Mina Fawzy, Abo Sefen Nabil Wesa, Mohamed Abd El Hady