The committee responsible for selecting Egypt’s official submission for the Academy Awards held its first meeting, attended by 23 prominent filmmakers, writers, and critics.
The members agreed on a process to narrow down the 35 films released between October 2024 and September 2025.
The initial vote resulted in a shortlist of five films. Two additional films, which some members had not yet seen, were added to the list: “Dhi” (Light) by director Karim al-Shenawy and “A Wedding in a Funeral” by director Amira Diab.
This brought the final list to seven films for the final vote.
During the session, an initial vote on a preliminary list of five films yielded the following results:
- “Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo (2024)“ received 21 votes.
- “Ref’at Ainy Lil Sama” (I Raised My Eyes to the Sky) received 19 votes.
- “Al-Hawa Sultan” (Love is King) received 10 votes.
- “Snow White” and “12 East” each received 9 votes.
A new session is scheduled for next Sunday to vote on the film that will officially represent Egypt at the Oscars, following the viewing of the two remaining films.
The session began with a minute of silence in memory of the screenwriter and researcher Farouk Abdel-Khalek.
The head of the Film Professions Syndicate, director Massad Fouda, was present and confirmed in his speech that the Oscar committee is formed according to specific regulations set by the Supreme Oscar Committee, and that the union has no involvement in the selection of either the members or the nominated films.
