ABOUT THE FILM

LOGLINE

An Egyptian gay couple return from the U.S. to Egypt for a family emergency and have to force themselves back into the closet and pretend to be just friends. When they fall prey to witchcraft as punishment for their “homosexual sins,” one of them falls into religious terror and exposes his unhealed past.

LONG SYNOPSIS

Mo and his boyfriend Hisham, a gay Egyptian couple, return from the U.S. to Egypt for a family emergency, but they need to pretend to be just friends in order to stay safe in Egypt’s very homophobic environment. Coming back to Egypt, however, leaves Mo especially anxious and uneasy, because someone knows his secret. They leave witchcraft at his door so that he feels threatened and ashamed. Although he pretends to be a modern American atheist, and therefore free from the superstitions of his religion and culture, Mo is terrified. Stepping into the witchcraft has revived childhood terrors and deep religious fears, and he is afraid that his shame will be exposed to Hisham, who doesn’t know that Mo still views their relationship as sinful. Little by little, the judgment day he always feared, the god he always hated, the mother who stood against him, and the sins accumulating begin to quite literally haunt him through the witchcraft, leading to the confrontation Mo always feared. Will he be strong enough to fight back and eventually be liberated?

Writer & Director Marwan Mokbel

Producer Omar Said

Associate Producer Ahmad El Naboulsi

Editors Marwan Mokbel, Michel Elyas

Director of Photography Leo Purman

Production Designer Cynthia Boutros

Music Matias Piegari

Cast Junes Zahdi, Freddy Shahin, Samara Nohra

FESTIVALS
2023: Chicago Reeling (World Premiere)

AWARDS
Honorable Mention, Outstanding courage in Filmmaking (Tallgrass)

AVAILABLE TERRITORIES
The World

EXHIBITION FORMATS
DCP, Digital Download