The Parrot Starring Hend Sabry Participates in Sharm El-Sheikh Arab and European Film Festival

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Contending within the Short Films Competition

The Parrot Starring Hend Sabry Participates in Sharm El-Sheikh Arab and European Film Festival


With the attendance of directors Amjad Al Rasheed and Darin Sallam and Line Producer Aya jardaneh, the short film The Parrot is taking part in the Sharm El-Sheikh Arab and European Film Festival (5 - 11 March) within the Short Film Competition. The Parrot features superstars Hend Sabry and Ashraf Barhoum.

Sharm El-Sheikh Arab and European Film Festival is organized by Noon Foundation for Culture and Arts, a non-profit organization that aims at developing the cultural and artistic activities all over Egypt, especially in the regions that suffer the most from their absence. In its first edition, the festival is going to screen about 35 films from Egypt, the Arab world and seven European countries with the attendance of their filmmakers.

The Parrot is one of the film projects funded by the German Robert Bosch Stiftung Foundation, which funds the Best German-Arab film projects. The film that won the Best Short Film award earlier this year is co-produced by the German Foundation and Royal Film Commission-Jordan, and is distributed in the Arab world by MAD Solutions. The film landed its world premiere at the 13th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) within the Muhr Short competition.

The Parrot tells the story of a Mizrahi Jewish family, who emigrate from Morocco, trying to settle into their new life in Haifa, Palestine in 1948. The film stars Hend Sabry, Ashraf Barhoum, Yasmine Ben Amara, Eyad Hourani, Firas Taybeh, Lara Sawalha, and Ahmad Al-Madani, and written by Amjad Al Rasheed, Darin Sallam, and Rifqi Assaf.

The Parrot is the 4th short film starring Sabry; previously she collaborated with young directors in their shorts, namely; Sherif El Bendary's Rise and Shine, which screened in 75 festivals across more than 33 countries, the award-winning short Day and Night by Islam Azzazi, which took part in many festivals and won several awards, and the Tunisian film One Evening in July by Rajaa Amari.

Darin Sallam is a Jordanian filmmaker who holds a BA in Graphic Design and received her MFA degree from the Red Sea Institute for Cinematic Arts (RSICA) in 2012. Darin made four award-winning shorts including the four-minute film Still Alive, which was the first Jordanian film to screen at the Short Film Corner of the 63rd Cannes Film Festival in 2010, and The Dark Outside, which screened at many eminent international film festivals, including; the Carthage Film Festival (JCC) and the Short Film Corner of the Cannes Film Festival in 2013.

Amjad Al-Rasheed is an award-winning Jordanian director and producer. He received his MFA degree from the Red Sea Institute for Cinematic Arts (RSICA). After attending many filmmaking workshops, Amjad started his career as a director, producer and production designer of some shorts and feature films. In 2007, Amjad was selected to attend the Berlinale Talents networking platform at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival. In 2013, Amjad directed the TV show The Rania Show (2013), which is considered as one of the most popular comedy shows in Jordan.

Screening times of The Parrot at the 1st Sharm El-Sheikh Arab and European Film Festival
Tuesday, March 7 at 12:00 pm (GMT +2)