The Gate of Departure Wins 4 awards and a Certificate of Appreciation at the Egyptian Catholic Center Cinema Festival

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Achieving Its Second Win In 2016

The Gate of Departure Wins 4 awards and a Certificate of Appreciation at the Egyptian Catholic Center Cinema Festival


Accompanying its 2015 series of achievements, Karim Hanafy's The Gate of Departure achieves its second win in 2016, after it has earned 4 awards, along with a Certificate of Appreciation at the 64th Egyptian Catholic Center Cinema Festival (26 February- 4 March). The Gate of Departure won the Special Jury Award, Best Cinematography (Zaki Aref), Best Music (Rageh Daoud), jointly with the film Out of the Ordinary , Best Actress in a Leading Role (Salwa Khattab), together with Naglaa Badr for her role in Out of the Ordinary. The Gate of Departure received a Certificate of Appreciation after it has competed in the 64th session of the festival, as one of the best five Egyptian films in 2015 complied with the ethical and humanitarian criteria outlined by the Egyptian Catholic Center Cinema Festival.

Karim Hanafy's The Gate of Departure has marked the biggest number of awards at the 42nd Egyptian
Cinema Film Association Festival 2016, as itreceived six awards. The awards are; Best Film, Best Director (Karim Hanafy), Best Cinematography (Zaki Aref), Best Music (Rageh Daoud), Best Sound (Alaa El Kashef) and Best Poster Design (Theodore Amin) awards.

The Gate of Departure had its first award at Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) 2014 where it landed as the only Egyptian official selection and won the Silver Pyramid Award for Best Artistic Contribution.

Since the film's US premiere through the Arab Film Festival in San Francisco, which is one of the biggest and longest-standing annual independent film events screening modern contemporary films from and about the Arab world, the film took part in international film festivals including the 3rd Sudan Independent Film Festival (SIFF) in Sudan and the 4th Luxor Arab & European Film Festival within the Nights of Egyptian Cinema section.

"You, who have always been here, you will be everywhere." The Gate of Departure is a story of a prophecy that has always haunted a son growing to manhood in his mother's desolated home. The son is unable to begin his journey beyond the boundaries of these walls repressed by feelings of guilt towards his mother, who chooses to imprison herself for the rest of her life, guarding her only son as she helplessly witnesses her beauty slipping away day by day. The sorrowful mother refuses to let go of the gift that life has granted her. Only a whirlwind of painful dreams that pave the way for her son's departure teaches her to accept her eternal solitude, thus opening the door for him to begin his long journey to himself.

Written and directed by Karim Hanafy, The Gate of Departure stars Salwa Khattab, Ahmed Magdy, Amaal Abdel Hady and Shams Labib. The film is produced by Khaial Art Production with support from Egypt's Ministry of Culture.

With MAD Solutions on board as the film's distributor in the Arab world through its distribution arm MAD Distribution, the company has released the film in Egyptian cinemas across Cairo for two weeks.