Factory Girl Wins 6 Major Awards at the Egyptian Film Association Festival

Sweeping Major Awards for Its Director, Scriptwriter, Actors and Film Editor

Factory Girl Wins 6 Major Awards at the Egyptian Film Association Festival

Continuing to scoop awards and accolades from regional and global film festivals, adding the total of 15 awards to its record, Factory Girl swept 6 awards from the 41st Egyptian Film Association Festival. The film earned the Excellence Award for director Mohamed Khan; a Special Jury Award; Best Actress award for Yasmin Raeis; Best Supporting Actress for Salwa Khattab; Best Screenplay award for Wessam Soliman; Best Film Editing award for Dina Farouk. The winners will receive their awards at the closing ceremony on Saturday, February 14th, 2015.

Factory Girl is recently taking part at the European Film Market (EFM) within the 65th Berlin International Film Festival through the Arab Cinema Center (ACC), which is helmed by MAD Solutions as part of its long-term strategy in backing and promoting Arab filmmaking.

In a fresh breakthrough for Mohamed Khan's Factory Girl across film festivals worldwide, Arab Cinema in Sweden (ACIS), a distribution arm under the umbrella of Malmo Arab Film Festival, has announced the theatrical release of Factory Girl across Sweden on Friday, April 24th, 2015, marking the film's first release beyond the Arab world.

Across Sweden, where resides the largest Arabic-speaking community in Europe, Factory Girl will release in 12 screening venues including, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Norrkoping, Fajo, Umeå, Luleå, Lund and Hillsburg.

Produced by DayDream Art Production, which was founded by director and producer Mohamed Samir, Factory Girl is distributed across the Arab world by MAD Solutions.

Starring Yasmin Raeis, Hany Adel, Salwa Khattab, Salwa Mohamed Ali, Ibtihal El Sereti and an array of new promising stars; the film is written by Wessam Soliman. Factory Girl tells the story of Hiyam, a young factory worker, lives in a lower-middle-class neighborhood, along with her co-workers. She is clearly under the spell of Salah, the factory's new supervisor, who has expressed his admiration for her. She believes love can transcend the class differences between them. However, when a pregnancy test is discovered in the factory premises, her family and close friends accuse her of sinning. Hiyam decides not to defend herself and pays an enormous price in a society that fails to accept independent women.

Mohamed Khan's Factory Girl was Egypt's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 87th Academy Awards (Oscars). In December 2013, the film had its world premiere at Dubai International Film Festival within the Muhr Arab Feature competition where the film received the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award for Arab Feature Competition, and the film's star Yasmin Raeis walked away with the Best Actress award. In July 2014, the film earned a Special Jury Prize from MEDFilm Festival in Italy, where it was screened at the opening gala of the festival. Concurrently Factory Girl was a great success in Egyptian theaters, and carried on its flourishing commercial tour across 6 Arab countries, as well as Ramallah, Palestinian territories.

Factory Girl ended 2014 with receiving multiple awards from international film festivals earning 4 awards from 18th Egyptian National Film Festival, which hosted an honorary screening for the film at the closing ceremony after competing in the festival's Feature-length Competition. The film swept the festival's major awards; Best Director award, Best Screenplay and the Best Actress award.

Adding to its festival participations in a string of highly prestigious international film festivals, Factory Girl had its North American premiere at Montreal World Film Festival in Canada, and then was part of ANA Contemporary Arab Cinema Festival in New York. On November 9th, 2014, Factory Girl concluded the screenings of Twin Cities Arab Film Festival in Minnesota, USA, which was held under the patronage of Mizna.

The film was also screened as part of Shanghai International Film Festival and at the opening ceremony of the Arab Film Festival in Seoul, Korea. Also, the film has also taken part at the 20th Kolkata Film Festival in India within Focus: Arabian Countries section, which showcased 7 films from the Arab world that achieved artistic triumphs at international film festivals.

Moreover, Mohamed Khan's Factory Girl was showcased at Safar: A Journey Through Popular Arab Cinema in London, which took place at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). The film has also been part of the 34th African Film Festival of Verona in Italy within Panorama Africa competition, which encompassed 10 African feature-length films.

Following its screening at Franco Arab Film Festival in Jordon, Factory Girl was featured at Carthage Film Festival within Special Sessions section.