‘Yomeddine’ Becomes the First Egyptian Film to be Nominated for Cannes Main Competition

Yomeddine, also known as ‘Judgement Day’, receives distinctive recognition during the annual Cannes Film Festival. The official website of the Cannes Film Festival announced on Wednesday that Yomeddine was nominated for the  Golden Cinema Award which is given yearly to the best directorial debut. This is a recognizable moment for the movie, which was also known to have a 10-minute standing ovation after its screening on Thursday.

Yomeddine is both written and directed by Egyptian-Austrian director Abu Bakr Shawky and his partner Dina Emam. It is recognized as the first Egyptian movie to ever be invited to the Cannes’ main competition.
The film follows the story of a forty-year old man that suffers from leprosy. After continually speculating over his birthparents, he decides to embark on a journey across all of Egypt to find his biological father. Carrying all his possessions on donkey back, he is joined with an young orphaned boy. The two fend off both expected and unexpected tribulations along the way while also meeting individuals who judged them based on their characteristics rather than appearance or social standings.

The actors Radi Gamal and Ahmed Abdel Hafiz explore unhealed wounds and deliver both a heart-felt and realistic performance as to the startling struggles several minorities in Egypt face.

Yomeddine also accumulated a lot of praise from several well-known publications such as The Guardian and Variety. Variety wrote in its review that the film was “A loving-made, character-driven road movie that occasionally dips into sentimentality, yet, has moments that occasionally play on the heartstrings.”