A.B. Shawky's stunning feature-debut, Yomeddine, isn't your average road movie. Beshay (the incredible Rady Gamal) has been living in a leper colony after his father left him there many years ago. He makes a living selling scraps on his donkey cart and is friends with Obama (Ahmed Abdelhafiz), a young orphan who has no qualms about Beshay's condition. When Beshay's wife, Ireny, passes away, the man is left with a choice–to stay at the colony and let the days pass him by, or embark on a journey to reunite with his biological family in Qena. He chooses the journey, but the trip is almost immediately complicated when he notices Obama hiding in his donkey cart. With the trek already underway, Beshay allows Obama to tag along, and so begins this unlikely duo's quest for long-lost family.
Director Biography
Abu Bakr "A.B." Shawky was born in 1985 in Cairo, Egypt. Yomeddine is his first feature film, which screened to high praise at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the François Chalais Prize.
Press
"A sweet, solid first feature marbled with genuinely touching moments that make up for times when the siren call of sentimentality becomes a little too loud." - Variety
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