Director Ali El Arabi takes part in the 5th edition of El Gouna Film Festival (Oct. 14-Oct. 22) with his film Captains of Za'atari, which will have its Arab world premiere within the Feature Documentary Competition at the festival.

Captains of Za'atari took part in over 82 film festivals worldwide and was nominated for over 15 international awards. It landed its world premiere at the Sundance film festival where it was chosen as the second-best film in the festival's lineup. Furthermore, it was part of CineGouna Springboard's films in post-production selection, within the third edition of El Gouna Film Festival, where it won several awards.

The film follows the story of two best friends; Mahmoud and Fawzi, who have been living in the Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan for five years. Despite their harsh circumstances, they kept dreaming to play soccer professionally. Their dream can possibly come true When a world-renowned sports academy visits the camp. Captains of Za'atari is slated to release in New York and Los Angeles, as of November 19.

Ali El Arabi is an Egyptian director, producer and the founder of Ambient Light, a production company. Ali kick-started his career as a director and producer of documentaries at ZDF channel. Later, he went on to make documentaries for several prominent international platforms, such as National Geographic in the MENA region. El Arabi spent 8 years working on his first documentary feature film Captains of Za'atari. Currently, Ali is working on several regional and international projects, including the feature film The Legend of Zeineb and Noah, which is directed by Yousry Nasrallah and co-produced by El Arabi.