Egyptian director, Omar El Zohairy, wins Critic’s Week Grand Prize for his debut feature film, Feathers, in Cannes.

Feathers is the portrayal of an Egyptian wife and mother who experiences a total transformation when her authoritarian husband is accidentally turned into a chicken by a magic trick at a kid’s birthday party; and she becomes responsible for heading the family and finding a solution.

The story is inspired by a parable of a man evidenced to have turned into a chicken and is used to lay out the difficulties of an everyday Egyptian family. The absurdity of the situation creates a reactive response from the family members who in reality are stuck as anti-heroes with nobody caring “about them or their issues” says Omar.

The director explained he felt “very close to that situation and therefore, from the moment the idea of making the film came to me, I become completely obsessed”.

Feathers is inspired by Egyptian film and musical culture and attempts to bridge the divide between film and audience using honesty, sincerity and a lack of judgement to help viewers “feel the essence of our lives”.

WATCH Feathers Trailer

Omar El Zohairy studied film directing at the High Institute of Cinema in Cairo and worked as an assistant director on feature films of Egypt’s most prominent filmmakers, including Yousri Nasrallah. Zohairy’s first short film, Breathe Out(Zafir), premiered at the 8th Dubai International Film Festival and won the Muhr Special Jury Prize for Short Films. His second short film, The Aftermath of the Inauguration of the Public Toilet at Kilometre 375, was the first Egyptian film to be selected for the Cinéfondation competition at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, the film went on to win several awards around the world.