Ahd Kamel’s MY DRIVER AND I held a phenomenal world premiere at this year’s Red Sea Film Festival to a host of well known celebrities and media personalities as part of the Gala selection and the Arab Spectacular Program. The festival is running from December 5th till the 14th.
 
Cast members Mustafa Shehata, Roula Dakheelallah, Rana Alamuddin, Tarah Al Hakeem, and Mishaal Tamer were also in attendance, along with Qusai Kheder and his Arabs Got Talent co-star, the well known presenter Raya Abirached of SCOOP WITH RAYA. The talented Egyptian actress Yousra El Lozy was also in attendance.
 
Not only did the film premiere to a full house, but it also received a standing ovation from the audience after its conclusion.
 
MY DRIVER AND I is set to screen two more times throughout the duration of the festival; once more on the 7th and another on the 14th.
 
MY DRIVER AND I follows Salma, a young, affluent, and rebellious Saudi girl whose family hires a Sudanese man named Gamar to drive her to and from her day-to-day routines.
 
Initially adhering to a professional dynamic, Salma and Gamar’s budding relationship soon blossoms into a friendship that binds them throughout her teenage years, yet their bond is put to the test as Salma gets older and starts taking the wheel.
 
An OSN+ original, MY DRIVER AND I will air on OSN+ and OSNtv with co-productions by Georgie Paget and Thembisa Cochrane from Caspian Films, Corniche Media, and Odd Kamel Films. Meanwhile, MAD World handles the film’s sales outside the MENA region.
 
Commenting on her film, director Ahd Kamed stated, “The film opens a window on a certain strand of late 20th-century Saudi society, looking deep into the core of a privileged household where the hired-help become part of the family, and watching as a girl’s universal journey through adolescence comes into contact with the reality of societal expectations.”
 
MY DRIVER AND I — which is Kamel’s directorial feature debut — was supported by OSN, Cairo Film Connection, the UK Global Screen Fund, and the Red Sea Film Foundation and is a heart-wrenching tale that shows the overlap of Sudanese society in Saudi Arabia like never before.
 
Featuring Roula Dakheelallah, award-winning actress Rana Alamuddin, Mishaal Tamer, and Qusai Kheder; the film notably also stars the young Sudanese actor Mustafa Shehata, who made his debut in Amjad Abu Alala’s film YOU WILL DIE AT TWENTY, which became Sudan's official submission to the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film in 2021, and won the Best Debut Feature at the Venice Film Festival.
 
Rounding out the crew is the Sudanese filmmaker Amjad Abu Alala, the director behind YOU WILL DIE AT TWENTY, and the producer behind Yemen’s official Oscar submission THE BURDENED, and the renowned Sudanese feature GOODBYE JULIA.
 
A joint production between Saudi Arabia and the UK, MY DRIVER AND I was directed and written by Ahd Kamel, lensed by Frida Marzouk, and edited by Andonis Trattos, with sound handled by Emmanuel Zouki and music by Marc Codsi.
 
Ahd Kamel is an award-winning actress and filmmaker from Jeddah, celebrated for her remarkable performances in both film and television. She gained international recognition for her role in the BAFTA-nominated 2014 film WADJDA. Kamel also portrayed Fatima in the critically acclaimed 2018 BBC and Netflix series COLLATERAL. In 2022, she co-starred alongside Chris Pine, Thandiwe Newton, and Laurence Fishburne in Amazon’s thriller ALL THE OLD KNIVES. In addition to her acting, Kamel has directed two award-winning short films, SHOEMAKER and SANCTITY, the latter of which made history as the first Saudi film to compete at the Berlinale.
 
The 4th Red Sea International Film Festival runs from December 5th to the 14th.