“I have been hiding behind producing,” says “You Will Die at 20” director Amjad Abu Alala.
“I wanted to do that.
I remember, last year, after my film won the Lion of the Future Award for best debut film at the Venice Film Festival, I got on the plane to the Toronto Film Festival and the very first question a journalist asked was what are you doing next? I didn’t even have time to breathe.”A week after the Toronto screening, Alala was at El Gouna Film Festival, where “You Will Die at 20” won the El Gouna Golden Star for best narrative film.
“That helped spread the word a lot,” says Alala.
“A lot of people in Sudan, they don’t know Venice, but they know about Egypt because they have been raised on Egyptian cinema and stars for 100 years.”This year, Alala has returned wearing two hats.
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