CM 2021

Hubert Bals Fund 

AFAC 

Hassala Films

Caractères Productions

The Settlement

Al Musta’amara

PItch video

Goals at CineMart&nbsp; The film already has an Egyptian producer and a French co-producer, and we are interested in meeting a potential Dutch co-producer, or from any other country. We are also looking forward to meeting with possible sales agents and, most importantly, funders.Synopsis In a shantytown called Al Nag', which lies in the ghostly district of Wardiyan in Alexandria, sandwiched between a grain packaging factory and an oil refinery, live Hossam and Maro, two brothers. The first is twenty-three and the latter is twelve. After their father Said accidentally gets killed in the blade factory by one of his colleagues Moustafa, the factory manager Karim convinces Said&rsquo;s family to relinquish their legal rights in exchange of hiring both Hossam and Maro in the factory. Hossam feels belittled, but he decides to accept the offer out of responsibility towards his family. He is also aware that he has no skills that can make him eligible for any other job.Hossam and Maro receive their new jobs only a month after the accident and on their way to the factory, which lies in a far place called The Settlement, they find out they will have to work hand in hand with Mustafa, the person they know to be the cause of their father's death.In the factory, all workers are vigilant towards Hossam, especially Moustafa; they all know, beforehand from his late father, how hostile and misfit he is and that all his friends are outlaws. His bad image made everyone await Hossam&rsquo;s revenge. But this is not Hossam&rsquo;s only problem: his teenage brother Maro, who looks up to him, is expecting Hossam&rsquo;s revenge as well, and recklessly trying to be a part of it.Director's Biography Mohamed Rashad (writer/director/producer) was born in Egypt and started working in filmmaking in 2005, after he was trained in a two-year workshop on filmmaking. He started the workshop in 2003 and finished it in 2005 after which he wrote and directed two short fiction films, From Afar&nbsp;in 2005 and&nbsp;Maxim&nbsp;in 2007. Afterwards, he worked as an assistant director in a large number of films, the most important among them is&nbsp;Coming Forth by Day&nbsp;directed by Hala Lotfy. With Hala and several other filmmakers, he founded the production company Hassala Films which is an independent production house whose focus is to produce long debut projects (fiction and documentary) by talented young artists. In 2016, he finished his first feature documentary film&nbsp;Little Eagles&nbsp;which had its premiere at the 2016 Dubai International Film Festival&rsquo;s Official Selection. His first credit as the producer was on the feature documentary&nbsp;The Profession&nbsp;directed by Ramez Youssef. Rashad also participated in a number of script development and editing workshops such as the DOCmed workshop and the Documentary Campus Workshop. Rashad is currently working on the development of his first feature fiction&nbsp;The Settlement.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Hassala Films 

The blade factory witnessed their father’s death. The only compensation offered to Hossam and Maro to relinquish their legal rights is to work in the same position as their father, next to the same person who caused their father’s accidental death.

Mohamed Rashad