Video Interview: Ayten Amin - Souad

Video Interview: Ayten Amin – Souad

Published on December 10, 2021

Egypt’s official submission for the ‘Best International Feature’ category at the 94th Academy Awards is Ayten Amin‘s Souad, which received the official Cannes 2020 label and premiered in the 2021 Berlinale while also winning Best Actress for its two leads at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. In anticipation of For Your Consideration screenings, I had the opportunity to converse with director Ayten Amin, discussing the process of the project, which originated alongside her screenwriter Mahmoud Ezzat initially as a documentary subject. Amin shares details on her approach to filmmaking, funding issues, festival play and inspirations (including the Dardenne Bros., Abdellatif Kechiche and even Hitchcock).

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.