The Other Land by director Ali Edries has landed its world premiere at the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) yesterday, Saturday, with the presence of the cast, Minister of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriate Affairs Nabila Makram, Ambassador Khaled Rizk, Assistant Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs, Ashraf Munir, Egypt's Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, José Alfonso, head of the visa application center at the Embassy of Spain in Cairo, and Dr. Magda Wassef, President of the CIFF.

Ambassador Nabila Makram, Minister of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriate Affairs, expressed her happiness about the film, saying, "I'm pleased that The Other Land is the first film to discuss irregular immigration and its effects."

The film's screening, which competes in the Official Competition of the 38th Cairo International Film Festival, has also witnessed the attendance of the international jury members headed by German director Christian Petzold, Mary Sweeney, Li Yu, Robyn Kershaw, Filip Bajon, Saba Mubarak, Arwa Gouda, Youssef Cherif Rizkallah, artistic director of the festival, producer Mohamed Hefzy, director Hani Khalifa, along with writers Waheed Hamed and Farida El-Shobashy; film critics Ali Abu Shadi, Tarek El Shennawi, Nader Adly, Lebanese film critic Mohammed Rouda; and the cultural section of the Spanish Embassy in Cairo.

An additional screening of The Other Land is set to be held on Sunday, November 20, at 6:30 pm at the
Main Hall of the Cairo Opera House to provide the opportunity for those who haven't been able to attend the film's premiere. Creativo Productions is expected to release the film in Egyptian theaters soon.
Right after the film's screening, Film Critic Ahmed Shawky led a panel discussion to talk in detail with the cast about the challenges and difficulties they had to go through to come up with this film.

It is worth mentioning that the Minister of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriate Affairs had intervened to facilitate the visa procedures to Spain for the film's crew, after the film's executive producer had held several meetings with the Spanish consul and the procedures had been disrupted more than once.

The Other Land follows the stories of a group of young Egyptians, who escape Egypt's underprivileged rural villages, all sharing one desire; to immigrate to Italy, but without having any official documents aboard a ramshackle old ship. Seeing Italy's coastline ignites their hopes for a better life, but then the treacherous sea waves put an end to all of their dreams.

The Other Land stars Mohamed Ali, Bayoumi Fouad, Abdel Aziz Makhyoun, Mohamed Mohamed Mahran, Amr El Kady, Afaf Shoaib, and Hanan Soliman. The film is written by Zainab Aziz and directed by Ali Edries, marking their sixth time together, co-produced by Creativo, DX Productions in collaboration with The Partner Barcelona (Spain). Al Massa Art Production will handle the worldwide distribution of the film, while MAD Solutions will be in charge of the marketing for the film.

The Other Land was filmed in Spain, along with Egypt where the scenes of the rural villages and shores were shot. The production company hired a professional crew including Egyptian DOP Ahmed Abdel Aziz, Spanish DOP Oscar Felices, and Assistant Director Chema Linares. The film was co-edited by Syrian Film Editor Salem Derbas and the Spanish Editors Manel Frasquiel and Conrado Lopez, special effects by the Spanish expert Salvador Santana, and visual effects by Rafael Galdo.

Mohamed Ali is a young actor who graduated from the Faculty of Commerce, Cairo University before starting his acting career by taking part in several projects, including the second season of the TV series Sharee Abd El-aziz and the film El Ashash, in addition to his noteworthy film role in The Ferry. Later on, he founded his own company, Creativo, for film production and promotion in 2013. Creativo is a joint stock company and The Other Land is its first production project.

Ali Edries is an Egyptian director who started his career as an assistant director of many important films such as Sa'eedi Fil Gamaa el Amrekeia (Sa'eedi in the American University), El Nazer (The School Principal), Toyour El-Zalam (Birds of Darkness), and El Noom fi el Asal. His first film as a director was Ashab Wala Business (Friendship or Business). Edries directed many box office hits including Aris Min Geha Amneya (A Groom from the Security Entity), Morgan Ahmed Morgan, and Al-Dada Dodi (Dodi The Nanny).