2022 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

The film tells the story of how one internet router catapulted a food cart business from humble beginnings to a successful future. Opening on a shabby food cart, a worn-out owner humbly tells the audience about his small business. His assistant then pulls out an internet router and asks him for instructions. He directs him to plug it in. The moment he does, the scene instantly transforms into an enhanced version of itself. Our owner and his assistant are now sporting a more stylish and confident look, the food cart is a truck, and a new partner made an appearance. Confused about how this came to be, the assistant unplugs the router. That’s when the scene transforms back to its original state. Various more plugging/unplugging sequences follow, gradually taking us to an even better-looking food truck with now money-counting, fur-coat-wearing partners and, eventually, to pilots of their own flying restaurant.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

One of the UAE’s most striking characteristics is its diversity. As a melting pot of people from more than 200 countries, the Emirates is home to tolerance and coexistence. As such, it’s not a rare sight to find an Egyptian and Emirati (as seen in this film) partnering to open a small food business. It’s also the UAE’s multiculturalism that makes its Arab residents rather familiar with different dialects prevalent in different Arab countries. That’s why, each one of our protagonists promotes the business in their own dialect, namely Egyptian and Emirati respectively. Including English words in an otherwise Arabic conversation is also something that’s widely done across the UAE, which is why we see that in our film. The Egyptian’s iconic sense of humour is known and loved by Arabs across the Gulf. The Egyptian cast, therefore, highly contributed to giving the film the desired relevance and light-heartedness.

Tell the jury about the casting process.

The UAE is home to people from more than 200 countries. Egyptians and Indians make up a vast part of its expat community. We wanted our film to be a microcosm of the UAE’s diversity by casting an Egyptian, an Indian and an Emirati to be the co-owners of a food truck. In the UAE’s up-and-coming food truck scene, young Emiratis and Arabs are often seen partnering to run a food truck. In addition, the iconic Egyptian humor is very popular amongst Arabs. That’s why we casted both an Emirati and Egyptian as business partners. A high level of acting prowess was needed because of the monologue the cast had to deliver and the seamlessness, in which they had to switch from a humble description of their business to proudly touting it. That’s why we even included local improv clubs and theatres in our cast search.