Mohamed Diab's Clash Competes in the BFI London Film Festival's Official Competition

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Less Than 24 Hours After Announcing It as Egypt's Representative at the 2017 Academy Awards

Mohamed Diab's Clash Competes in the BFI London Film Festival's Official Competition


The 60th BFI London Film Festival has selected director Mohamed Diab's film Clash to compete within its official competition (5 - 16 October) following its massive success in theaters for the 5th consecutive week, and the announcement of its selection to represent Egypt at the 2017 Academy Awards in the Best Foreign-Language Film category.

Tackling the political unrest that prevailed in Egypt in 2013, Clash's events take place in an 8-meter police truck, crammed with detainees representing different sects of society, their interaction with each other full of madness, violence, romance, and comedy.

Co-written by Khaled Diab and Mohamed Diab, who is also the director, Clash is a co-production between France, Egypt, Germany, and the UAE. The cast includes Nelly Karim, Tarek Abd El Aziz, Hany Adel, Ahmed Malek, Ashraf Hamdi, Mohamed Abdel Azim, Gamil Barsoum and others.

The film landed its world premiere last May at the Cannes Film Festival as it inaugurated the prestigious
Un Certain Regard section. Clash marked Egypt's comeback as an official selection after 3 years of absence to the most important festival in the film industry worldwide. The Hollywood Reporter also selected Clash as one of the 10 Best Films at the 69th Cannes Film Festival.

Clash is a joint production effort between Arab and European companies: Film Clinic (Egypt), Sampek Productions (France), and Acamedia Global (UAE), in association with ARTE France Cinema (France),
Niko Film (Germany), Fortress Film Clinic (UAE), and Pyramide International (France). Taking part in the project are producers Moez Masoud, Mohamed Hefzy, Eric Lagesse, and it is co-produced by Nicole Gerhards, alongside executive producers Jamal Al Dabbous and Daniel Ziskind. Mohamed Diab's wife,
Sarah Goher, also acted as a creative collaborator on the film, earning the title "Creative Producer". The film is distributed in Egyptian theatres by MAD Solutions, while Pyramide International will distribute it in France and the rest of the world.

Run by the British Film Institute (BFI), the BFI London Film Festival is one of the oldest 20 festivals according to its starting date. The first round of the festival was launched in 1953 with an aim to become the 'festival of festivals'. The BFI London Film Festival is known for its selectiveness for choosing the best films by the best directors from all over the world. The average number of films that compete at the festival have reached over 300 films from 50 countries around the world. It is considered one of the top 5 international festivals that attract audiences as its ticket sales have surpassed 160 thousand tickets. It is also known for hosting the biggest stars of the European and international cinema, in addition to organizing events that allow the audience to interact with them.