After winning widespread critical and audience acclaim last year, as well as being the only Egyptian official selection at Cairo International Film Festival winning the Golden Pyramid Award for Best Artistic Contribution, Gate of Departure is making its way back to Cairo on Wednesday, 11 November through Zawya Initiative, downtown at Odeon cinema where the film will screen for one week only.

Commenting on this, the film's director Karim Hanafy stated, "I think the time has come for the audience to watch Gate of Departure in cinemas, which puts me in a state of suspense as I anticipate the audience's reactions to the film. I really hope the film incites emotions inside every viewer."

Gate of Departure's release at Zawya comes right after its release in the USA through the Arab Film Festival in San Francisco, which is considered one of the biggest and longest-standing annual independent film events screening modern contemporary Arab films.

The film recounts the story of young man who dreams of exploring the world as he grows up in isolation along with his grandmother and mother, where due to the latter's fears that he would abandon her- just as his father did- decides to lock him up in the house.

Written and directed by Karim Hanafy, Gate of Departure stars Salwa Khattab, Ahmed Magdy, Amal Abdelhady and Shams Labib. The film is produced by Khaial Art Production with support from Egypt's Ministry of Culture with MAD Solutions on board as the film's distributor in the Arab world.