Mohamed Diab's Clash Picked on The Hollywood Reporter Critics' Faves at Cannes Film Festival

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Mohamed Diab's Clash Picked on The Hollywood Reporter Critics' Faves at Cannes Film Festival


On the halfway point of Cannes Film Festival (11-22 May), The Hollywood Reporter (THR) has
placed Mohamed Diab's riveting feature, Clash, among its Critics' Favorite Films at Cannes so far.

On the website, the THR report on the 10 best films at Cannes Film Festival described director Mohamed Diab's Clash as "a powerfully scary imaginative and prescient of the chaos into which the nation has descended." Previously, the website referred to the film as "one of the most telling depictions of modern Egypt yet filmed." The film also received wide international and Arab acclaim following its world premiere at the opening of the Un Certain Regard section at the 69th Cannes Film Festival, where it received thunderous applause.

Clash tackles the political unrest that prevailed in Egypt following the ousting of President Morsi. Co-written by Khaled Diab and Mohamed Diab, who is also the director, the film is a co-production between France, Egypt, Germany, and the UAE.

Most of the events in the film take place in a police truck, crammed with 25 detainees from both the pro and anti-Muslim Brotherhood camps, their interaction with each other full of madness, violence, romance, and comedy.

The cast includes Nelly Karim, Tarek Abd El Aziz, Hany Adel, Ahmed Malek, Ashraf Hamdi, Mohamed Abdel Azim, Gamil Barsoum and others.

Clash is a joint production effort between Arab and European companies: Film Clinic (Egypt), Sampek Productions (France), and EMC Pictures (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 will be distributed in Egypt by Al Massa Art Production, while Pyramide International will distribute it in France and the rest of the world.