The Giraffe by Director Ahmed Magdy Participates in Marrakech International Film Festival

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The Film's First International Participation

The Giraffe by Director Ahmed Magdy Participates in Marrakech International Film Festival


After landing its world premiere at the Cairo International Film Festival, The Giraffe by director Ahmed Magdy will participate in the 17th Marrakech International Film Festival (November 30 to December 8). This marks the film's first international screening, and it will be commercially released soon.

The Giraffe is the first feature film by Ahmed Magdy, who has directed three documentary short films alongside his acting career. Magdy commented on his first experience, "The film has taken around 4 years to be made; it is not easy to make a debut feature film, during which you encounter difficulties and obstacles you would never imagine. However, my passion to present the film gave me an impetus to make it happen. The film screening in the Cairo and Marrakech International Festivals is the biggest source of pride and a tribute to the enormous efforts made to create this film."



Founded in 2011, the annual Marrakech International Film Festival is one of the most important festivals in the Mediterranean countries and the world. In this year's edition, some of the most prominent actors and filmmakers will be honored, including star Robert De Niro, American director Martin Scorsese and Egyptian director Yusri Nasrullah.



Through the streets of the city that are void of all but its ghosts, Ahmed is lost and depleted of faith. Tonight, he must save a girl he doesn't know who is in a lot of trouble. He finds himself involved with an eccentric group of young people lead by an enigmatic girl who is trying to uncover the mystery behind the Giraffe hidden at the zoo.

Written and directed by Ahmed Magdy, The Giraffe stars Amr Hosny, Shaza Moharam, Haydi Koussa, Salma Hassan, Rasha Magdy, Mohammed El Badawy, and Osama Gawish. The film is co-produced by Garage Art Production, Utaco Digital Film, Fig Leaf Studio. It was awarded the AFAC Production Grant and the SANAD Development Grant from the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. The film will be distributed in the Arab world by MAD Solutions.

Filmmaker, actor, and Yoga instructor Ahmed Magdy was born in Cairo, Egypt, on 4 May 1986. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at Ain Shams University, then joined the Al-Tamy Theater Troupe and worked as an actor and assistant director for three years. His debut film is the independent short documentary Magra Al-Seil (Riverbed) in 2007. Afterwards, Magdy took part in a workshop titled Al-Zatt Wa Al-Madina - Al-Qahira (The Self and the City- Cairo), through which he directed his documentary Zizo(2007). After that, Ahmed directed Keika Bel Crema (Cream Cake) (2008) that received the Judges Awardat the Algerian Independent Film Festival and the Jordan Independent Short Film Festival, in addition to the Silver Hock award at the Arab Film Festival in Rotterdam.

Magdy's documentary film Ila Al-Bahr (To the Sea), participated in Abu Dhabi Film Festival in 2009, the festival which Ahmed visited again in 2012 as a member of the Short Films Competition Jury. In 2013, Ahmed received the SANAD Development Grant from the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, and the AFAC Production Grant in 2014 for his debut narrative feature No One There. As an actor, Magdy received a number of awards for acting in highly-acclaimed films in festivals, such as Asafeer Al-Neel (Birds of the Nile), Microphone, The Gate of Departure, Ali, the Goat and Ibrahim, and Mawlana, alongside a number of successful TV series.