Completing the awards chain it has been receiving since its international premier, Kamla Abu Zekry’s film “Youm Lel Setat” (A Day for Women) won Best Feature Film award at the 37th African Film Festival in Verona, Italy.
This comes less than a month after the film won the Audience Award at the Arab Film Festival Rotterdam, Best Screenplay at the 2nd Slemani International Film Festival in Iraq, in addition to taking part in the Cape Town International Film Festival and the Beirut Film Festival.
A Day for Women’s cast boasts Egyptian superstars Elham Shahin, Nelly Karim, Nahed El-Sebaie, Mahmoud Hemeda and Ahmed El-Fishawy.
The film plot takes place in one of the working class neighbourhoods where the youth centre dedicates a day on the pool for women only. As the plot goes, audience get to see the consequences of this decision on the psychological and emotional life of both men and women living in the neighbourhood. While women from different ages gather each week to enjoy the luxury of swimming in a pool, audience get to see them sharing their dreams, and experiencing their lifestyle.
Earlier in September, the film won the Grand Prize in the African Cinema Festival in Khouribga, Morocco, only a few days after its female stars Nelly Karim, Elham Shahin and Nahed EL Sebaie shared the best actress award for their performances at the Kazan International Muslim Film Festival taking place in Russia.
The film premieredglobally at the 60th BFI London Film Festival. It also competed at the official competition of 38th International Film Festival where Nahed El Sebaie won the Best Actress Award for her role in the film.
The film made its GCC premiere at the 13th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) in its Arabian Nights programme, along with other international festivals.
The script was written by Hanaa Atiya, and produced by Elham Shahin through her company Shahin Film.
