Director Amira Diab has completed shooting her debut feature film, Brovet Farah (Wedding Rehearsal). With the remaining scenes now filmed, Diab is preparing to enter the post-production phase, including editing, sound mixing, and composing the soundtrack. The film is set for release in summer 2025.
Diab revealed that the project is currently on its 16th draft, following a long development process that began with the first treatment in early 2023. She explained, “I originally wrote the first version of the film set in Palestine and the Levant. However, producer Hisham Abdel Khaleq and I agreed to relocate the story to Egypt. I moved to Egypt for a year and a half, and soon realized it’s the most fitting setting on a social level — Egyptian audiences will connect with it deeply. While the story could exist anywhere, its details and differences will be far more powerful through the Egyptian spirit.”
She added, “I began searching for an Egyptian writer to help bring out the nuances of the culture, dialect, and social details, as I’m not fluent in Egyptian Arabic. During my year and a half in Egypt, I explored various places and attended numerous social events to observe different classes and mindsets. Eventually, I chose the social groups I wanted to portray in the film. When I collaborated with screenwriter Dina Maher, I loved working with her — she has a remarkable understanding of how people on the street think. This is also her first feature film.”
Discussing the preparation and location scouting, Diab shared, “In the summer of 2024, I started writing the script with Dina, scouting locations, and assembling the full cast. I visited many Egyptian governorates, including Luxor, Aswan, Fayoum, Siwa, the Red Sea area, especially Hurghada, and Saqqara. The scouting took nearly two months before we finalized the current filming locations. I was amazed by the beauty and cinematic potential of many places that have yet to be discovered by film cameras. Egypt still has so much to offer, and it deserves to be showcased on the big screen.”
Regarding her background, Diab stated, “I’ve worked as an associate producer on several projects, including films by internationally acclaimed director Hany Abu-Assad, such as Fly Away My Kite, Huda’s Salon, Amira, and the Hollywood film The Mountain Between Us, starring Kate Winslet and Idris Elba. I studied production in California and fell in love with this field, building on my background in finance and banking. I directed and wrote my first short film, Selfie Zein, which premiered at El Gouna Film Festival and received positive feedback from audiences, critics, and filmmakers.”
She continued, “I later participated in an episode of Netflix’s Love, Life & Everything in Between, released on Valentine’s Day. Our contribution was a film about love in Palestine titled Kazoz, which was well-received. After that, producers encouraged me to work on a feature film, which led to Wedding Rehearsal.”
Brovet Farah is directed by Amira Diab and co-written with Dina Maher. The film is produced by Hisham Abdel Khaleq’s Union of Video and Filmmakers and stars Nelly Karim, Sherif Salama, Lebleba, Adel Karam, Entesar, Mahmoud El-Bezawy, Amir Salah El-Din, and Donia Maher.
Comments
Leave a Comment