Cameras Wrap on Ayten Ameen's Villa 69

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Produced by Film Clinic and The 7th Art

Cameras Wrap on Ayten Ameen's Villa 69


Director Ayten Amin has recently wrapped up shooting her debut feature film, Villa 69 , and is now in post production. The film is co-produced by Film Clinic and The 7th Art, starring Khaled AbolNaga, Lebleba, and Arwa Gouda.

Villa 69 is a light social drama about life, intimacy illness and death. The film follows Hussein, a man living in isolation in his house. Characters from his past begin to invade solitary lifestyle that he is in and his life witnesses drastic changes following the encounter with his sister and nephew, Seif. As a result, gradual and yet radical changes in his dogmatic view of life begin to emerge.

Written by Mohamed Al Hag, Villa 69 is Ayten's feature directorial debut. The film is produced byFilm Clinic, a company continuing to revive Egyptian cinema by introducing young and aspiring new talents, as well as the recently launched The 7th Art, a production company founded by Wael Omar.

Ayten Amin was the recipient of the Cairo Film Connection prize within the frame work of CairoInternational Film Festival in 2010 for her film Villa 69. The project has also won a development fund prize from Hubert Bals Fund and was also the official selection in Pavilion des Cinemas Du Monde, Cannes Film Festival 2011.

Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Ayten studied Film Criticism in 2001. In 2005, she presented two shorts about Madiha Kamel and belly dancing. Ayten studied Cinema independently in Art Lab, the American University in Cairo (AUC). While at the AUC's Art lab, she produced her controversial short, Her Man, which was screened in 10 international film festivals including Clermont Ferrand Short Film Festival 2007, and was exclusively screened on the French Canal Plus in 2007 and 2008.

Ayten worked as Assistant Director in Bassra and On a Day Like Today before she made her shortSpring 89, that was part of five international festivals including the Short Film Corner, Cannes FilmFestival in 2011. The film garnered several awards including Best Short Fiction and the Special Jury Prize for the screenplay at the Alexandria Film Festival. The film also received a Special Mention at the Dubai International Film Festival and was selected as part of an educational program in New York University, Abu Dhabi in 2011.

In the same year, 2011, Ayten co-directed Tahrir 2011: the Good, the Bad and the Politician. The film was as an official selection at Venice International Film Festival, out of competition, and won

the CICT-IFTC award. Tahrir 2011 participated in several film festivals and was officially selected to be part of Toronto International Film Festival. The film was nominated for best document inCinema for Peace award at Berlin International Film Festival 2012.