Yomeddine

People are left out of the society for many different reasons. Yomeddine highlights several ways of being an outsider in the Egyptian society. The main character Beshay is a man who, at a young age, was placed by his father in a colony for lepers hoping it would provide a better life for him. When Beshay's mentally ill wife dies, he decides to return to his birthplace and potentially a better future in Qena, outside Luxor, together with his orphaned friend Obama. But on their way, they face a number of prejudices from the Egyptian society, especially towards Beshay's disease.

Yomeddine, which translates to Judgement Day in Arabic, is director A. B. Shawky's directorial debut and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year. Even though the film depicts the darker sides of life in Egypt, it is most of all a character-driven road movie with both comic and heart-warming moments. Definitely feel-good!

Abu Bakr Shawky is an Egyptian-Austrian filmmaker. He studied Political Science in Cairo and received an MFA in Film from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. His graduation project was his debut feature Yomeddine, which had its world premiere in the Main Competition of Cannes Film Festival in 2018. The film received the Francois Chalais Award and was Egypt's official submission for the 91st Academy Awards. In 2018.