The Egyptian film Hawi, directed by Ibrahim El Batout, has recently taken part in several international film festivals. After the movie received Best Arab Film award at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival this year, Ibrahim El Batout headed to Holland for Hawi's participation at the 40th Rotterdam International Film Festival, 26th January to 6 February 2011.

The movie was part of theSpectrum section of the festival and this was its first European screening. Hawi was screened three times within the Rotterdam International Film Festival; on Monday 31st January at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday 1st February at 10:30 p.m. and Wednesday 2nd February at 5:30 p.m.

All three screenings were attended by eminent cinema personalities, as well as intrigued audiences. It received 3927 votes from viewers. The movie was ranked as very good by those who voted, noting that its rank position exceeded dozens of movies also taking part in the festival.

The CineMart coproduction market within the Rotterdam International Film Festival selected Ein Shams Films' newest movieAli, the Goat and Ibrahim, which is directed by Ibrahim El Batout and written by himself and Ahmed Amer, as part of this year's projects. The movie is the only Egyptian and Arab film taking part in CineMart. This unique opportunity gave it excellent exposure to international entities that wish to produce cinematic productions from across the globe.

Following its participation at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, Hawi travelled to Iran to take part in the Iranian Fajr International Film Festival that was held from the 5th to the 15th February 2011 in Tehran. The movie was screened as part of the Festival of Festivals official competition.

Hawi is additionally taking part at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival that commenced on the 10th of February 2011 ended 20th February 2011. The movie was screened as part of the festival's market on Sunday 13th February 2011 at 3:00 p.m. and was attended by a large number of distribution companies and international film festival directors.

The movie now prepares for yet another tour of the Arab world and across the globe this April, and will also be released to audiences in Egyptian cinema theatres in the very near future.

Hawi is written and directed by Ibrahim El Batout and stars a large group of actors and actresses from Alexandria who includeMohamed El Sayed, Sherief El Desouky and Rina Aref, alongside the talented actress Hanan Youssef. The movie was shot entirely in Alexandria and produced by Ein Shams Films. The movie's distribution is handled by The Arab Company for Production and Distribution.