Last year, Omar’s first feature, FEATHERS, made history in Cannes as the first Egyptian film to scoop two key awards at the festival including the Grand Prize in Critics Week. It went to win a raft of others prizes including four prizes in Carthage, best international film in Calgary, best film in the Roberto Rossellini Awards of China’s Pingyao festival and best Arab narrative film in October at Egypt’s El Gouna, where the surreal social satire also prompted a walkout from a group of veteran local actors who complained the depicted Egypt in a bad light. Fellow Egyptian directors rallied in support of Omar’s film. FEATHERS was released in France last March.