Marwan Hamed retrospective set for IFFR 2026

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is mounting a Marwan Hamed retrospective as one of its Focus strands for the 2026 edition, in celebration of the prolific Egyptian director’s career. On the occasion of  the European premiere of his upcoming Umm Kulthum biopic El Sett starring Mona Zaki (Flight 404) and Mohamed Farag (Voy!Voy!Voy!) – which will screen in the Limelight strand of IFFR 2026 – the programme will feature his works spanning the past two decades. 

Hamed has repeatedly set box office records in his home country – most recently with historical epic Kira & El Gin (also in selection at IFFR 2023), which became the biggest financial success in Egyptian cinema history at the time of its release, bringing post-pandemic audiences back to theatres in droves. From Hamed’s feature debut in 2006 with screen adaptation of Alaa Al Aswany’s novel The Yacoubian Building, which sees him directing a screenplay written by his late father Wahid Hamed, he has made blockbuster films which have garnered both significant commercial and artistic recognition. Both of these titles will screen in the upcoming Focus programme.

The retrospective will be the first of its kind of Hamed’s work – and will also include the two instalment mystery thriller The Blue Elephant and The Blue Elephant 2, hit Egyptian underworld feature Ibrahim Labyad, corruption drama Diamond Dust – based on the Arab noir novel by frequent collaborator Ahmed Mourad, and the phenomenal El-Asliyyin (The Originals), Mourad’s first screenplay – about a bank employee who is made redundant and then gets a phone call which changes his life forever. 

El Sett is the first major biopic of the late musical icon and actress Umm Kulthum, a national treasure of Egypt and recognised as the most influential singer from the Arab world. Known as the “fourth pyramid” of Egypt, she led a life of epic proportions, her rise and significance inexorably tied to that of the nation as it rebuilt following the fall of British colonial rule. 

Vanja Kaludjercic, Festival Director of IFFR, said: “Marwan Hamed is the most fascinating director to emerge from Egypt’s ever-fertile film culture in the last quarter century. Spectacle is his mode of choice, subversive intelligence his speciality. Hamed knows how to entrance his audience with grand emotions, extraordinary sights and outstanding performances by his stars – just as he knows how to make people look critically at society and the nation’s history. With widely acclaimed works like his debut, The Yacoubian Building (2006), the gangster epic Ibrahim Labyad (2009), or the highly original crime movies The Blue Elephant (2014) and El-Asliyyin (2017), Hamed showed his excellence in adapting major literature and smart genre fare alike. With his revolutionary heritage extravaganza, Kira & El Gin (2022), we introduced Hamed to Rotterdam audiences. The European premiere of his latest major work, the Umm Kulthum biography El Sett (2025), is the perfect occasion to present a complete retrospective of his work for cinema – the first of its kind outside Egypt.”

Marwan Hamed said, “I would like to thank the Rotterdam Film Festival for this great honour. I’m very grateful to the festival for hosting the European premiere of El Sett and for showcasing my work, it is a great privilege. I would also like to thank the festival and all the artists I’ve worked with over the past years to achieve these films.”

In addition, the festival has confirmed key dates for the upcoming edition, available below.