50 meters receives heartfelt applause at its gff premiere

Egyptian director Yomna Khattab’s debut feature documentary, 50 METERS, enjoyed a warm and emotional reception at its Arab World premiere during the eighth El Gouna Film Festival, where it screened to a packed theater and concluded with a long, heartfelt applause from the audience.

Following its world premiere at CPH:DOX earlier this year, the Arab premiere of 50 METERS at the El Gouna Film Festival marks another powerful milestone in the film’s journey, affirming its place as one of the most personal and affecting Arab documentaries of the year.

The screening gathered some of the most prominent figures from Egypt’s film and television scene, including Tamer Habib, Sedky Sakhr, and Mariam Naoum, alongside a large turnout of artists, filmmakers, and festival guests who filled the hall to celebrate this intimate and deeply personal story.

The night’s most moving moment came as the film ended, when Khattab and her father, whose relationship forms the emotional core of the documentary, shared a heartfelt conversation that resonated throughout the room, stirring deep emotions among the audience.

Set by a fifty-meter training pool, Yomna, a first-time director, is struggling to make her film happen. She decides to turn her camera on her distant father and uses her developing film elements to approach him. Through writing fictional scenes, to drafting voice-overs, Yomna succeeds in breaching her father’s shell and sharing with him her existential questions. By finally showing her vulnerability, Yomna is able to reconcile with her father and self before moving forward with her life choices.

An Egyptian-Danish-Saudi co-production, 50 METERS brings together several notable talents under Khattab’s helm, including award-winning composer Jonas Colstrup (THE GULLSPÅNG MIRACLE), editors Gladys Joujou (BYE BYE TIBERIAS) and Khaled Moeit (SOUAD), along with producers Ahmed Amer of A.A. Films and Patricia Drati of Good Company Pictures. Additionally, the film's international sales are handled by MAD World while MAD Distribution is in charge of its MENA-wide distribution.

In terms of funding and support, 50 METERS won the IDFA Spotlight Award at the Durban Film Mart in 2022, participated at the IDFA Project Space in 2023, and won several development and production grants, such as the Red Sea Production Fund, Danish Film Institute Fund, Whickers Development Fund, and nine prizes at the fifth El Gouna Film Festival pitching forum.

Yomna Khattab is a filmmaker based in Cairo. She originally acquired an MA in economics from the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne. Yomna’s short stories book, VIDEOTAPE FROM THE NINETIES, was published in 2015 by Dar El Shorouk. As a scriptwriter, her feature film ROKAYA' won Best Script From a Young Scriptwriter at the 2018 edition of the Sawiris Cultural Award.

She also wrote and produced the short film LET US PLAY YESTERDAY, which won the Film Prize Robert Bosch 2021 Development Fund and premiered at the International Short Film Competition of the sixth El Gouna Film Festival. Yomna’s main interest in her work is to explore the politics and economics affecting women’s choices, in addition to modern family dynamics in contemporary times.