23 Apr Aisha Can’t Fly Away Selected for Cannes ‘Un Certain Regard’ Competition!
Many congratulations to Sawsan Yusuf and Mostafa Morad (Egypt), the team behind Aisha Can’t Fly Away, for being selected for the Un Certain Regard competition at Cannes! An Egyptian Thriller, the film follows Aisha, a Sudanese immigrant, and as she navigates a dangerous life in Cairo’s Ain-Shams District.
IEFTA have been working with this project since we selected them from El Gouna CineGouna Springboard Platform in 2021. Since then, the project was selected for Dot.On.The.Map Industry Days, won the $100,000 Red Sea Souk Production Award in 2022, won IEFTA’s own APostLab scholarship in 2023, and won the La Biennale di Venezia Prize for a film in post-production in 2024. Un Certain Regard consideration marks another impressive achievement on this film’s journey.
Now we just can’t wait to finally watch it!
Aisha Can’t Fly Away
Aisha, a 26-year-old Sudanese woman, lives and works in Ain Shams, a neighbourhood in Cairo where a large African migrant community lives. The indifference of the authorities toward the tension and violence between Egyptians and inhabitants of various other African nationalities has allowed gangs to seize control of the neighbourhood. The situation quickly turns sour after one of them offers Aisha security in exchange for a favour.
Morad Mustafa (Egypt)
DIRECTOR
Morad Mostafa, born in Cairo in 1988, has worked on several independent films and collaborated as an executive assistant director on Ayten Amin’s Souad (2020), which was presented at the Festival de Cannes and in the Panorama section of the Berlinale. Mostafa is an alum of Berlinale Talents, Durban Talents, and the Locarno Academy. He wrote and directed three short films that were selected for the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, and that went on to screen at more than 300 festivals worldwide, winning several awards. His recent short film, I Promise You Paradise (2023), was selected for La Semaine de la Critique at Cannes and was nominated for a César Award.
Sawsan Yusuf (Egypt)
PRODUCER
Egyptian producer Sawsan Yusuf holds a degree in drama and criticism from Ain Shams University, is an alum of the Rotterdam Lab and EAVE’s Creative Producer Indaba, and participated in the Producers Network in the Marché du Film at the Festival de Cannes. Starting her career in 2009 as a coordinator for several festivals and film markets in the Middle East, she also worked as a line producer. In 2019, she established Bonanza Films and produced her first short film, Morad Mostafa’s Henet Ward (2020), which premiered in competition at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and won 25 prizes worldwide; followed by Khadiga (2021) and I Promise You Paradise (2023), which participated in La Semaine de la Critique at Cannes.