Yasmin Raeis Meets the First Palestinian Ambassador in a Western European Country

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Before the Theatrical Release of Her Film Factory Girl in 15 Swedish Cities

Yasmin Raeis Meets the First Palestinian Ambassador in a Western European Country


Hours before the Swedish premiere of Factory Girl, the film's leading actress Yasmin Raeis visited Hala Fariz the Palestinian Ambassador in Sweden to congratulate her of being the first assigned Palestinian Ambassador in a Western European country after Sweden's recognition of the Palestinian state in October 2014.

Born to a Palestinian father, Raeis commented "I'm extremely happy I was able to visit the first Palestinian embassy in Sweden and the kind reception by the Ambassador. I believe that the Swedish recognition of Palestine is a significant step highlighting the country's respect to freedom and human rights. I really hope that the rest of the European states and the rest of the world follow the example of Sweden and welcome the presence of a Palestinian embassy on their lands soon."

Factory Girl was released in Sweden on Friday, April 24, 2015, through Arab Cinema in Sweden (ACIS); the distributor of Malmo Arab Film Festival, marking the film's premiere outside the Arab world based on an agreement signed with MAD Solutions, distributor of Factory Girl.

Yasmin Raeis, the film's leading actress, walked the red carpet along with the great Egyptian director Mohamed Khan and producer Mohammed Samir in the film's premiere during her stay in Sweden from 21st to 25th of April. Factory Girl will roll in 15 cities; Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo, Ingrid, Norrköping, Umeå, Luleå, Lund, Hallsberg, Eskilstuna, Jönköping, Kristianstad, Västerås and Östersund.

The film hit Egyptian theaters on March 19th, 2014, and was released in the UAE in the next day, and then it carried on its flourishing commercial tour across Lebanon, the Palestinian city of Ramallah, and three other Arab countries. Egyptian revenues totaled 1.6 million EGP, and ran in cinemas for more than 19 consecutive weeks.

Factory Girl tells the story of Hiyam (Raeis), a young factory worker, lives in a lower-middle-class neighborhood, along with her co-workers. She is clearly under the spell of Salah, the factory's new supervisor, who has expressed his admiration for her. She believes love can transcend the class differences between them. However, when a pregnancy test is discovered in the factory premises, her family and close friends accuse her of sinning. Hiyam decides not to defend herself and pays an enormous price in a society that fails to accept independent women.

Through a tour across 18 international film festivals, Yasmin Raeis added a total of 6 awards to her record the last of which has been granted to the Egyptian star at the International Oriental Film Festival in Geneva where she received a Special Mention from the Jury of the Feature Film section for her outstanding performance.

Before that mention, Yasmin received 5 awards from international film festivals namely; the Best Actress Award from Dubai International Film Festival 2013, Best Actress Award from Malmo Arab Film Festival in Sweden, Best Actress Award at the 18th Egyptian National Film Festival, the Best Actress Award at the 41st Egyptian Film Association Festival, and most recently Best Actress from Silk Road Film Festival in Dublin, Ireland.