2022 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

One Hell of a Ride is an Egyptian drug awareness film that depicts the sad and emotional journey of drug abuse. A young teenager is strapped on a rollercoaster, ecstatic and screaming in joy during the first half of the film - until at one moment he looks worn out, tired, regretful, broken and bruised. In the end, the rollercoaster metaphor hits the viewer with the reality of drug addiction.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

The film is universal in its core as drug addiction is a global problem. However, with Egypt drug addicts mainly being teenagers, we needed to find an activity (the rollercoaster ride) and the cast (young adolescents) to star in the film.

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

Egypt has been facing an alarming increase in drug addiction and abuse among the younger generation - mainly teenagers. Drug awareness programs are quite scarce in Egypt and usually end up blaming the patient. So we wanted to make sure that the drug abusers know that we understand what they're going through by depicting the highs and lows of addiction in the most relevant way possible.