Biography
Mohamed Hefzy is an Egyptian screenwriter and producer; with an evolving filmography of 40 feature films including worldwide acclaimed titles; MICROPHONE (2010), RAGS AND TATTERS (2013), CLASH (2016) and SOUAD (2020). He has served as a jury member in various international festivals including the Sundance Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival.
As of its 40th edition and for four consecutive years; Mohamed Hefzy is a former President of the Cairo International Film Festival. In 2022, Hefzy was selected as president of the International jury at the 15th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) and a jury member for the International Emmy Awards.
In 2005, He founded Film Clinic; the now pioneer production house in the MENA region with a variety of commercial blockbusters & Art house films that joined numerous major film festivals worldwide including; Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, Toronto, and Tribeca, to name but a few, and won over 100 international awards under its belt.
Later, Hefzy founded Film Clinic Indie Distribution, with a mission to create opportunities for Arab independent films within and beyond festival circuits & Co-founded Meem Creative Circle which produced Netflix’s first Egyptian original series; Paranormal.
In 2013, Screen International named him the only Arab among 30 future leaders in film production. In 2016, he topped Variety's list of “Ten names you need to know in the Arab Film Industry” and was among Variety’s 500 list of the most influential people in the media industry worldwide.
In 2018 he was named by the Hollywood Reporter and the Arab Cinema Center as the "Arab Cinema Personality of the Year” award. In June 2019 he became a member of the Academy Of Motions Pictures Arts And Sciences in the “Producers” branch. In recognition of his significant contribution to the Arab film scene, he was honored as a “Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres” from France.
In 2023, his Saudi Arabian film HAJJAN, directed by Egyptian director Abu Bakr Shawky world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and garnered the Best Feature, Best Actor, and Best Cinematography awards at the Gulf Cinema Festival.
Mohamed Hefzy appeared at the 2023 Oscars as a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Hefzy's film VOY! VOY! VOY! was also chosen as Egypt’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Oscars.
As for 2024, the year was brimming with success for the Egyptian producer, starting with Hani Khalifa’s commercial hit FLIGHT 404 — Egypt’s official submission for the Best International Feature Film Category at the 97th Academy Awards — which won the Special Jury Award (Tutankhamun's Silver Mask), and the Best Actress Award for Mona Zaki at the 13th Luxor African Film Festival as well as the Best Cinematography Award at the Septimius Awards.
Hefzy also produced Fatima Al-Banawi’s Netflix feature BASMA.
The producer was also the leading man behind several Venice titles this year; Nadim Tabet's IN THIS DARKNESS I SEE YOU, Morad Mostafa's AISHA CAN'T FLY AWAY ANYMORE, and Mohamed Siam's MY FATHER'S SCENT — all of which participated in Venice’s Final Cut program.
All three films sweeped awards at Final Cut, with Morad Mostafa’s AISHA CAN'T FLY AWAY walking home with the Final Cut’s top prize: The La Biennale di Venezia Jury Prize for Best Film in Post-Production, making it the first Egyptian film project to win this prestigious award.
AISHA CAN’T FLY AWAY also won several additional awards from the Final Cut’s jury of supporters — Titra Film, Rai Cinema, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, and Cinémathèque Afrique of the Institut Français.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Siam’s MY FATHER'S SCENT walked home with four awards, while Nadim Tabet’s IN THIS DARKNESS I SEE YOU scored both the MAD Solutions Final Cut Award and the El Gouna Film Festival Final Cut Award.
Another Hefzy-backed film; Khaled Mansour's SEEKING HAVEN FOR MR. RAMBO, brought back Egyptian cinema to Venice after a 12-year hiatus after competing at the Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti Extra section.
Hefzy just wrapped his newest co-production with Lagoonie Film Production, the feature film 67th Summer.
Film Clinic is also joining hands with the Greek production house Heretic, and jumping on as co-producers for Miguel Angel Jimenéz’s latest TV series THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, starring Oscar-nominee Willem Dafoe. This is Film Clinic’s first English language acquisition in several years.
