WHEN THE SEA WAS BLUE Screens in Bahrain Film Festival

release date October 16 2022

Amr Elseyoufi’s short film WHEN THE SEA WAS BLUE, screens at the Bahrain Film Festival (Oct.15-19), kicked off last Saturday. The film will be screened twice: on Sunday, October 16, at 10:00 PM (GMT+3), Bahrain time, and on Monday, October 17, at 6:30 PM.

Organized by the Bahrain Cinema Club, the 2nd edition of the Bahrain Film Festival runs under the theme of Cinema for You, under the patronage of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA), aims to be a film event that contributes significantly to Bahrain's cultural movement.

WHEN THE SEA WAS BLUE took home the Shady Abdel Salam Award for Best First Work at the National Egyptian Film Festival. The film's lead actress, Heba Abdel Ghany, received an honorary certificate from the jury at the same festival. The film had its world premiere at the Aswan International Women Film Festival and was screened at the Cairo Shorts Film Festival, where Heba Abdel Ghany won Best Actress for her performance.

Mariam is a forty-year-old woman who feels like her daily routine and boredom are weighing her down. People around her who use technology too much put up a wall between her and everyone else. One day, she decides to break the monotony by making the bravest choice of her life.

Directed by Amr Elseyoufi, the film features screenwriter Mohamed Zayed and costume designer Reem El Adl. It stars Heba Abdelghany, Mahmoud Hamdi, Nicole Iskander, and Adam Zayed. MAD Solutions manages the film’s distribution.

Amr Elseyoufi is an Egyptian filmmaker and a BA holder in Mass Communication from Cairo University. He also studied filmmaking at Rafat El-Mihy Academy. He got his start as a director by making short films. His first film, "One Direction," was screened at international and local film festivals. Later, he worked as an assistant director on several commercials, plays, TV shows, and feature films.