'When We're Born' Starring Amir Eid to Represent Egypt at the Oscars

First premiering in 2019 at the El Gouna Film Festival, 'When We're Born' - directed by Tamer Ezzat and starring big names like Amr Abed, Salma Hasan and Cairokee's Amir Eid - has been submitted to represent Egypt at the 2021 Oscars for the Best International Feature award. A submission is one step removed from a nomination, but it's a step we're more than happy to take.

Following the interweaving stories of three very different characters, the film was a long time in the making, having been written in 2007 by Nadine Shams, who passed away in 2014. The movie took over 10 years to create, partly because of the political uncertainty that shortly followed the turn of the decade, and partly because of disagreements among the producers, some of whom wanted to change the script into an action-comedy, instead of the unconventional social drama it ended up being. Looks like dedication to the script as written has paid off, at least in terms of international recognition, having previously been screened at the Carthage Film Festival.

The 93rd Academy Awards was going to take place on February 28th, 2021, but the Coronavirus prompted them to push it ahead by a couple of months. This would be the 35th Egyptian film to be submitted at the Oscars beginning with Youssef Chahine's 'Cairo Station', although none yet have been properly nominated or subsequently awarded. But maybe 35th time's the charm.