COMING FORTH BY DAY

"Stands out for its extraordinary use of space and time, fully grasping the emptiness of lost lives." – Variety

The debut fiction feature from documentary filmmaker Hala Lotfy, Coming Forth by Day is remarkable not just as a rare example of independent Egyptian cinema, but also as a poetic exploration of the themes of duty, family and mortality.

Exceptionally patient behind the camera, Lotfy imparts an enveloping sense of place in the small apartment where Soad, single and in her 30s, cares for her incapacitated father. A taxing daily routine leads Soad to venture outside the four walls of the house, ostensibly to visit a salon, but she stays out all night wandering the streets of Cairo alone, seeking but not finding freedom from her day-to-day life at home.

Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival.

"An audacious, personal and profoundly humanist film which impressed us with its radical cinematographic language." – FIPRESCI jury