Dreamaway Wins the Bronze Prize for Best Artistic Contribution at the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF)

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Within the Festival's Long Documentary Films Competition

Dreamaway Wins the Bronze Prize for Best Artistic Contribution at the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF)


Dreamaway,by Egyptian director Marouan Omara and German director Johanna Domke,won the Bronze Prize for Best Artistic Contribution at the 8th Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF), which concluded its activities on Thursday, March 21. The film competed in the festival's Long Documentary Films Competition. This is the film's first award after participating in several international film festivals.

Dreamaway received wide acclaim from film critics after its screening at the festival. Film critic Khaled Mahmoud, Head of the Arts Section at Al-Shorouk newspaper, said that the film documents the social status of a group of young people who are searching for themselves in a world of economic changes and terrorist attacks, and that the screenplay mixes reality with fantasy.

Dreamaway started its successful tour across Egyptian governorates through screening at Zawya Cinema in Cairo and Zawya Alexandria. It was recently selected to screen at the Sharm El-Sheikh Asian Film Festival (SAFF).

Representing freedom and easy cash, Sharm El Sheikh has long been a dream destination for Egyptian youth. Recently, terror attacks have brought tourism in the resort town to a halt. Dreamaway follows a group of young employees of a luxury hotel compound, where clichés and stereotypes of Western and Oriental cultures clash. This carousel-like experience elevates the youths into a dreamlike state.

The film landed its world premiere at the 53rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic and its Arab world premiere at the El Gouna Film Festival within its Official Competition. Dreamaway took part in the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) and BFI London Film Festival, along with other international film festivals.

Directed by Marouan Omara and Johanna Domke, Dreamaway is produced by Roman Roitman, (Monokel/Germany), Mark Lotfy (Fig Leaf Studio/Egypt) and Arne Birkenstock (Fruitmarket Kultur und Medien/Germany). The film received grants from the Doha Film Institute, Arab Fund for the Arts and Culture (AFAC), and is supported by WDR, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, IDFA Bertha Europe Fund, Catapult Film Fund, Hot Docs Blue Ice Fund, Berlinale Talents Doc Station Prize, Beirut Cinema Platform and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie Prize. MAD Solutions handles the film's distribution in the Arab world.