Ayten Amin’s Souad is a razor-sharp portrayal of sisterhood and sexual awakening that is rarely represented on screen
When the Egyptian director Ayten Amin was 10 years old, a classmate’s sister killed herself. The news gripped the school. But, in a society where suicide is a sin, no one talked about it; instead, they mourned the girl as though she had died mysteriously, or in an accident. “When I was shooting my first film, it suddenly hit me,” Amin says over a video call from her home in Cairo. “How did my classmate feel back then? How did she grow up knowing what happened, but with no one talking about it?”
In her new film, Souad, Amin explores precisely this: the hidden lives of teenage girls in Egypt. It follows the title character (played by Bassant Ahmed) and Rabab (Basmala Elghaiesh), sisters of 19 and 13 living in Zagazig, a small...
When the Egyptian director Ayten Amin was 10 years old, a classmate’s sister killed herself. The news gripped the school. But, in a society where suicide is a sin, no one talked about it; instead, they mourned the girl as though she had died mysteriously, or in an accident. “When I was shooting my first film, it suddenly hit me,” Amin says over a video call from her home in Cairo. “How did my classmate feel back then? How did she grow up knowing what happened, but with no one talking about it?”
In her new film, Souad, Amin explores precisely this: the hidden lives of teenage girls in Egypt. It follows the title character (played by Bassant Ahmed) and Rabab (Basmala Elghaiesh), sisters of 19 and 13 living in Zagazig, a small...
- 8/19/2021
- by Coco Khan
- The Guardian - Film News
Updated with audience award winners. The Tribeca Festival has announced its Audience Award winners: Catch the Fair One for Best Narrative Feature, Blind Ambition for Best Documentary Feature and Ferguson Rises for Best Online Feature. The winners of the narrative and documentary categories will receive a cash prize of $10,000.
Tribeca’s 20th edition wrapped up on Sunday.
Previously: Lauren Hadaway’s The Novice, about a queer college freshman who joins her university’s rowing team and undertakes an obsessive physical and psychological journey to make it to the top boat, has won the Best U.S. Narrative Feature Film prize at the Tribeca Festival.
Star Isabelle Furman won the best actress prize, and Todd Martin took cinematography honors for the film, the first feature for Hadaway, a former competitive rower.
Brighton 4th, directed by Levan Koguashvili, won the fest’s Best International Narrative Feature Film prize, taking that honor as...
Tribeca’s 20th edition wrapped up on Sunday.
Previously: Lauren Hadaway’s The Novice, about a queer college freshman who joins her university’s rowing team and undertakes an obsessive physical and psychological journey to make it to the top boat, has won the Best U.S. Narrative Feature Film prize at the Tribeca Festival.
Star Isabelle Furman won the best actress prize, and Todd Martin took cinematography honors for the film, the first feature for Hadaway, a former competitive rower.
Brighton 4th, directed by Levan Koguashvili, won the fest’s Best International Narrative Feature Film prize, taking that honor as...
- 6/24/2021
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Audience award winners to be announced next week.
The Novice, Brighton 4th, and Ascension have triumphed in the juried awards categories at 2021 Tribeca Festival.
Lauren Hadaway’s The Novice was named best US narrative feature at 2021 Tribeca Festival, while Levan Koguashvili’s Brighton 4th won best international film.
Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension (2014)[/link]Ascension was named best documentary feature in the juried awards. Visit Films holds worldwide rights and is launching sales at the virtual Cannes market next week.
In other awards announced on Thursday (June 17), Isabelle Furman won best actress for The Novice and Matthew Leone was named best actor for...
The Novice, Brighton 4th, and Ascension have triumphed in the juried awards categories at 2021 Tribeca Festival.
Lauren Hadaway’s The Novice was named best US narrative feature at 2021 Tribeca Festival, while Levan Koguashvili’s Brighton 4th won best international film.
Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension (2014)[/link]Ascension was named best documentary feature in the juried awards. Visit Films holds worldwide rights and is launching sales at the virtual Cannes market next week.
In other awards announced on Thursday (June 17), Isabelle Furman won best actress for The Novice and Matthew Leone was named best actor for...
- 6/18/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Tribeca Festival 2021 has announced the full list of winners for each of its competition categories. Lauren Hadaway’s “The Novice” won for narrative feature, Levan Koguashvili’s “Brighton 4th” won for international feature and Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension” won for documentary feature.
Awards were given out for the following competition categories: U.S. narrative, international narrative, documentary, short films, immersive, the Nora Ephron award and the first-ever podcast and games categories.
“It’s been a challenging time for filmmakers, storytellers, and actors, and we’re so proud to honor the perseverance and dedication many of them displayed while working through the many obstacles that arose as a result of Covid-19,” Cara Cusumano, festival director and vice president of programming, said in a statement. “Each of these recipients truly embody the spirit of our creative community.”
The winners of the audience awards, which are determined by audience votes throughout the festival,...
Awards were given out for the following competition categories: U.S. narrative, international narrative, documentary, short films, immersive, the Nora Ephron award and the first-ever podcast and games categories.
“It’s been a challenging time for filmmakers, storytellers, and actors, and we’re so proud to honor the perseverance and dedication many of them displayed while working through the many obstacles that arose as a result of Covid-19,” Cara Cusumano, festival director and vice president of programming, said in a statement. “Each of these recipients truly embody the spirit of our creative community.”
The winners of the audience awards, which are determined by audience votes throughout the festival,...
- 6/17/2021
- by Antonio Ferme
- Variety Film + TV
The 20th annual Tribeca Festival has announced the winners in the competition categories at this year’s awards ceremony out of Spring Studios in New York City. Awards were given in the following competition categories: U.S. Narrative, International Narrative, Documentary; Short Films, Immersive, the Nora Ephron Award, and the first-ever Podcast and Games categories. For the first time ever, Italian eyewear brand Persol presented the award to the 2021 Best Actor, U.S. Narrative, recipient.
The Festival, which had the honor of welcoming back in-person audiences, concludes on June 20.
The top honors in feature films went to “The Novice,” “Brighton 4th,” and “Ascension.”
Chanel James and Taylor Garron won the Nora Ephron Award and a $25,000 prize for “As of Yet.” The award, created nine years ago, honors a female writer or director embodying the late filmmaker.
“It’s been a challenging time for filmmakers, storytellers, and actors, and we’re...
The Festival, which had the honor of welcoming back in-person audiences, concludes on June 20.
The top honors in feature films went to “The Novice,” “Brighton 4th,” and “Ascension.”
Chanel James and Taylor Garron won the Nora Ephron Award and a $25,000 prize for “As of Yet.” The award, created nine years ago, honors a female writer or director embodying the late filmmaker.
“It’s been a challenging time for filmmakers, storytellers, and actors, and we’re...
- 6/17/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
There are two gods in “Souad,” Allah and smart phones, but in a battle between the two it’s clear who’ll be the winner. Ayten Amin’s bold second feature is brilliantly alive to the contradictions of teenage life in conservative Egypt, where the pressures of social media clash with traditional religious strictures, leading to schizophrenic lives of acute unease. making each character rounded yet ultimately unknowable. Backed by powerhouse regional and European co-producers, Cannes 2020 selection “Souad” can finally be seen following its Berlinale Panorama premiere.
Right from the start, Amin grabs our attention, signaling how she’ll be taking normal situations and giving them a twist. Souad (Bassant Ahmed) pleasantly chats with the conservatively dressed older fellow bus passenger beside her, conveying the image of a good god-fearing young woman excited about medical school and her fiancé. In the next shot and still in a hijab, she projects...
Right from the start, Amin grabs our attention, signaling how she’ll be taking normal situations and giving them a twist. Souad (Bassant Ahmed) pleasantly chats with the conservatively dressed older fellow bus passenger beside her, conveying the image of a good god-fearing young woman excited about medical school and her fiancé. In the next shot and still in a hijab, she projects...
- 3/3/2021
- by Jay Weissberg
- Variety Film + TV
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