2022 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

Our three films each revolve around a specific player in the national team. The idea is that the players want to do normal every day pastimes that are seemingly ‘harmful’ for footballers, but are stopped by average Egyptians. In one film, Ahmed Hegazy is not let into the movie theatre because the ticket usher thinks it’s too much of a late screening for him, and he needs some rest before the tournament. In another film, Ahmed Fattouh orders fries at a diner, but the waiter insists that he eats grilled vegetables instead. In the final film, Wensh wants to ride his motorcycle home but the security guard at the parking lot decides to lock the garage so that he can take a cab instead and not risk any injury.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

Egypt is the most successful and decorated team in the history of Africa - but we’ve been quite dire in the tournament for 11 years, and this led the fans to become quite disheartened and anxious about this years participation. In short, the entire nation was giving out vibes that this cup is non-negotiable, and we need to have a good showing. And Egyptians are quite big on humor, and quite intrusive in the players’ personal lives so we had to communicate that in our main idea, tagline and our films.

Please tell us about the social behaviour and / or cultural insights that inspired your work

When it comes to football, Egyptians are a bit too fanatic towards the national team and it's non-negotiable to lose any match in the African Cup of Nations. This is because Egypt have won the tournament a record 7 times, but it's been 11 long years since they’ve brought it home. So the fans would do anything in their powers for the team to do well… even if it’s slightly intrusive and weird… Add to that, Egyptians are quite big on humor, so we had to communicate that in our main idea, tagline and our films.