Italian
Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy, CEO of Cairo-based production company Film Clinic, received the Variety International Vanguard Producer Award at the Red Sea Film Festival on Dec. 9, prior to the screening of his black and white silent film “Abdo & Saneya.”
Hefzy has just launched a Film Clinic outlet in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, and production is ramping up in the kingdom. Recent projects with Saudi Arabia include the Saudi-set adventure movie “Hajjan,” which had its world premiere at Toronto.
Film Clinic is one of Egypt’s biggest production houses and has played a key role in supporting emerging and independent talent, including Hani Khalifa’s recent thriller “Flight 404.” Egypt’s candidate for the 2025 International Feature Oscar, the film grossed over $4 million in Saudi Arabia alone.
Film Clinic has six films at Red Sea this year, including three in official competition: Khaled Mansour’s “Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo,” Mahdi Fleifel’s “To a Land Unknown” and Taghreed Abu Al-Hassan’s “Snow White.”
Popular on Variety The company’s 2025 slate includes seven films in various stages, several of which involve Saudi Arabia.
Prior to receiving his award, Hefzy talked with Variety’s Italy and Middle East correspondent, Nick Vivarelli, about his most recent projects and some of his career highlights to date.
Hefzy says that the success of “Microphone” (2010) by Ahmad Abdalla, which screened in over 60 festivals, opened his eyes to the potential of independent cinema.
“The success of my mainstream commercial films that worked in the local market helped me leverage deals to make these smaller, more risque films that have the potential to travel,” he noted.
He has produced five films in total with Abdalla and has worked with many other independent filmmakers, such as Amr Salama on “Sheikh Jackson,” which screened in Toronto in 2017, about a devout Muslim whose life is thrown into emotional turmoil after he learns of the death of his childhood idol, Michael Jackson.
“I think it touched people internationally because it’s a side of Muslims that not a lot of people have thought about,” said Hefzy.
Hefzy says that a key turning point in his career was “Clash,” by Mohamed Diab, about the aftermath of the Egyptian revolution, which was the opening film of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2016 and sold to 20 territories.
“We had to tread very carefully not to get in trouble, and at the same time defend and fight for the film. I think that we put up a really good fight because our distributor decided to drop out 10 days before its theatrical release.”
Hefzy says the daring vision of “Clash” led to Diab’s hiring to direct episodes of Marvel’s “Moon Knight”: “I remember getting the call from a Marvel executive asking me about Mohamed and how he is to work with him. It was a proud moment!”
Film Clinic’s first English language film was “Luxor,” starring Andrea Riseborough. “That was a very intimate film that I’m really proud of,” he noted. “It’s really about a tormented soul recovering from a psychological and emotional crisis who is tested when she meets somebody that she was romantically involved with a few years before.”
Hefzy began producing projects in Saudi Arabia in 2021, with “Sea of Sands,” in co-production with Ithra Film Productions, about a young orphan Bedouin and camel who embark on a journey across Saudi Arabia.
“I didn’t know anything about camels. I didn’t know anything about the north of Saudi Arabia or Bedouin culture. And I thought, what am I getting myself into? But this sounds really exciting. And it was just about the time when we released ‘Feathers’ in Cannes, which was really exciting because it was probably the first Egyptian feature film to win a prize at Cannes.”
“Sea of Sands” had its world premiere in Toronto in 2023 and whetted Hefzy’s appetite to produce more projects with Saudi Arabia. He produced “Hajjan” and also Fatima AlBanawi’s debut feature “Basma,” a Netflix original.
“These projects made me realize that it’s hard for me to produce Saudi films out of Egypt, or the UAE, or anywhere else. I really need to have a local team.”
Hefzy is currently developing various Saudi TV series and films. The first Saudi project in his 2025 slate is the romcom “A Matter of Life and Death,” directed by Anas Ba-Tahaf, written by and starring Sarah Taibah: “It’s a mixture of romance and dark comedy. It’s quirky and the way it will be shot and executed is very visually interesting. So, I’m really looking forward to seeing it!”
His six films screening at Red Sea include the black and white silent drama “Abdo & Saneya,” about an Egyptian farming couple who travel to New York. “It’s completely different from anything you’ve seen in Arab cinema. It’s like a trip to a land unknown. But it’s a fantastic, extremely well-directed film, with great lead performances.”
The wide-ranging discussion with Variety ended with Hefzy explaining the challenges of adapting the legal drama series “Suits” in Egypt – for “Suits Arabia.” “It was a major challenge. Although we have some big international law firms operating in Egypt, the nature of legal proceedings and the overall legal process is very different. We wanted to make it realistic and were advised by a local law firm. Ultimately, the producer told us, ‘If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.’ So, we ended up sticking to the original as much as possible. We didn’t try to reinvent the wheel, but it all worked out pretty well.”
