Hot off the international film festival circuit, where it collected several prestigious film prizes, Hawi is being released in Egyptian cinemas after making its local premiere in Alexandria.

Hawi, which took home The Grand Prize for Best Arab Film at Doha Tribeca Film Festival, is the third full-length feature film from acclaimed director Ibrahim Batout following Ithaki and Ain-Shams.

Hawi is set for general release across Egypt starting next Wednesday (June 22nd), after an invitation-only media premiere in Alexandria,the city where the entire film was shot. All the cast andthe crew of Hawi are Alexandrians - another reason why director Ibrahim Batout chose Alexandria to express his gratitude to the coastal city. That premiere is being held on Saturday (June 18th) at the San Stefano theatre.

In addition to Doha Tribeca Film Festival, Hawi was invited to play at 40th Rotterdam International Film Festivalthat was heldfrom January 26th to February 6th.The film participated in the official competition and was praised by the audiences for its high technical standards.

The film then went to play at 29thFajr Film Festival in the Iranian capital of Tehran, which was held in last February, and also Gulf Film Festival in Dubai last April.

Just recently, Hawi took part in Italy's Taormina Film Festival, where the director's second long feature film Ein-Shams won the Golden Tauro Best Film Award in 2008.

Hawi is written and directed by Ibrahim Batout and stars an impressive array of new Alexandrian acting talent,including Mohamed El Sayed,Sherif El Dessouky, and Rina Aref, who appear alongside the already established veteran actor HananYousef. Shot entirely in Alexandria, Hawi was produced by Ein Shams Companyand isdistributed through The Arabia Company for Production and Distribution.