Mohamed Hefzy

Mohamed Hefzy is an award winning Egyptian screenwriter and producer who has written, produced, and co-produced nearly 30 feature films in Egypt, the US, the UK, and the Arab world. In 2013, Screen International named him as the only Arab among 30 future leaders in film production. In 2016, he was chosen by Variety on top of a list of "Ten names you need to know in the Arab Film Industry". In 2018 he was presented by the Hollywood Reporter with the Arab Cinema Center Arab Cinema Personality of the Year" award. In June 2019 he was invited as a member of the Academy Of Motions Pictures Arts And Sciences in the "Producers" branch. Mohamed's films have participated widely in major film festivals, including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, Toronto, and Locarno, among many others, and have won more than 80 international awards. In 2016, one of his productions (Clash) was chosen as the opening film of the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes International Film Festival. In 2018, he would return to Cannes as a co-producer of Yomeddine, this time in the official competition. In 2020, his latest film "Luxor" competed at the World Dramatic Competition at Sundance Film Festival, and for the third time his new co-production, Souad, has been announced an official selection at the first virtual edition of Cannes Film Festival. Aside from his work as a writer and producer, Hefzy is a film activist and his company, Film Clinic, has been a hub for independent filmmakers in Egypt and the Arab World, offering workshops and training programs conducted in cooperation with international organizations and institutes. Hefzy has served as a jury member previously at the Venice International Film Festival (2018) Abu Dhabi International Film Festival (2011), Cairo International Film Festival (2010), as well as several other local and Arab festivals. He is a former director of the Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts, and was on the advisory board of Cairo International Film Festival from 2015 to 2017. He has also been a board member of the Egyptian Chamber of Cinema since 2013, and continues to represent and lobby for independent filmmakers in Egypt and throughout the Arab World. In March 2018, Hefzy was assigned by the minister of culture the responsibility of presiding over Cairo International Film Festival, making him the youngest president in the festival's history". In 2019, Hefzy was invited as a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in the "producers" branch but he still runs the Cairo International Film Festival. Later that year, he was also chosen on the list of Variety's 500 as one of the most influential people working in the media industry worldwide, largely due to his contribution in raising the profile of Cairo International Film Festival on an international level.