Factory Girl in National Center for Cinema Tomorrow

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A Panel Discussion after the Screening with the filmmakers

Factory Girl in National Center for Cinema Tomorrow


Factory Girl will be screened for the professors and students of the High Cinema Institute on Tuesday, 19th of May at 6:00 pm at the Tharwat Okasha Cultural Center. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion led by the film's director Mohamed Khan and producer Mohamed Samir and writer Wessam Soliman and moderated by film critic Samir Farid. Film critic Ali Abu Shadi, Head of the Center, Mohamed Aziz, former Head Waleed Seif, scriptwriter Mohammed El-Basousy will all be in attendance at the screening.

Helmed by veteran director Mohamed Khan, the film is written by Wessam Soliman, and stars Yasmin Raeis, Hani Adel, Salwa Khattab, Salwa Mohamed Ali, Ibtihal El Sereti along with a diverse array of new promising stars. The film is produced by Mohamed Samir's DayDream Art Production and is distributed in the Arab world by MAD Solutions, which also promoted the film worldwide.

Factory Girl tells the story of Hiyam (Raeis), a young factory worker living 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 on the factory's 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.

Factory Girl has been released recently in 15 Swedish cities, through Arab Cinema in Sweden (ACIS); the distributer of Malmo Arab Film Festival, marking the film's international premiere, based on an agreement signed with MAD Solutions, the film's distributer.

The film hit Egyptian theaters on March 19th, 2014, and was released in the UAE on the next day, and then it carried on its flourishing commercial tour across Lebanon, the Palestinian city of Ramallah, and three other Arab countries. Egyptian revenues totaled 1.6 million EGP, and the film ran in cinemas for more than 19 consecutive weeks.

The film has also been presented at the European Film Market (EFM) within the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. This was carried out through the Arab Cinema Center (ACC), helmed by MAD Solutions as part of its long-term strategy in backing and promoting Arab filmmaking.

Mohamed Khan's Factory Girl was Egypt's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 87th Academy Awards (Oscars). The film also received 13 awards and special mentions from festivals worldwide. In December 2013, the film had its world premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival within the Muhr Arab Feature Competition where it received the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award in the 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 festival's opening gala.

Through a tour across 18 international film festivals, Yasmin Raeis added a total of 6 awards to her record, the last of which has been granted to the Egyptian star at the International Oriental Film Festival in Geneva, where she received a Special Mention from the Jury of the Feature Film category for her outstanding performance.

Before that, Yasmin received 5 awards from international film festivals namely; the Best Actress Award at the Dubai International Film Festival 2013, the Malmo Arab Film Festival in Sweden, the 18th Egyptian National Film Festival, the 41st Egyptian Film Association Festival, and most recently, the Silk Road Film Festival in Dublin, Ireland a few days ago.

At the 41st Egyptian Film Association Festival, the film earned the Excellence Award for director Mohamed Khan; a Special Jury Award; Best Supporting Actress for Salwa Khatab; Best Screenplay award for Wessam Suleiman; and Best Film Editing award for Dina Farouk.

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

At the 63rd Egyptian Catholic Centre Cinema Festival, a Certificate of Artistic Creativity has been handed to Salwa Mohamed Ali for her role in Factory Girl. The festival also granted MAD Solutions, the film's distributor, a Certificate of Appreciation.