Amr Salama: Excuse My French is a Victory for Talented Minds in Egypt

After the release of Excuse My French in Egyptian theatres, acclaimed TV Presenter Liliane Daoud hosted prominent Director Amr Salama along with the talented children Ahmed Dash and Moaaz Nabil, who played major roles in the film, in her successful TV show Al Soura Al Kamela (The Complete Picture). The episode aired on ONTV channel, on Friday at 10:00 pm.

"Excuse My French is a victory for talented minds in Egypt and freedom of creativity in general," said Amr Salama who expressed his gratitude to Ahmed Awad, Head of the Censor Board, for granting his full unconditional approval on screening the film in theatres.

Salama explained that Excuse My French is a personal experience on religious sectarianism and discrimination in general, adding that he was raised on the persecution of Christians in a primary school in one of the Gulf countries, but when he moved to live here in Egypt he had his first Christian friend in his first year at collage. Excuse My French tells the story of Hany Abdallah Peter, a child whose life turns upside down after the death of his father and his mother's discovery of the huge debts they have to pay. He is forced to experience the huge gap between classes after moving from his old elite private school to a public one. Things get complicated for Hany after having to hide being a Christian surrendering to the assumptions of his classmates and teachers who didn't read his full name and mistook him for a Muslim.

The film is the acting debut of both talented children Ahmed Dash and Moaaz Nabil who expressed their desire to continue in the acting career if they have a good chance. "Excuse My French doesn't discuss religious sectarianism, but rather sheds the light on the idea of discrimination in general, such as the huge gap between social classes in Egypt that the film represented in the difference between public and private schools," said Ahmed Dash.

Moaaz Nabil disapproved of the social discrimination existing in Egypt saying, "every person has his own religious belief, and if we didn't try to solve this, Egypt will deteriorate more, and it is already one of the third world countries."

Amr Salama talked about the difficulty he had to experience dealing with large numbers of kids and the pain he had to go through to control them so he could shoot one scene. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that dealing with children in general is much easier than dealing with adults, as children do not act, yet they believe the state they are living and play it with more spontaneity that the viewer believes them at once.

He added that the current situation in Egypt is not the perfect one by all means; "I don't like to be accused of over exaggeration in representing problems in Egypt in my films or picturing reality to be uglier than what it really seems," proving his words with a comedy situation happened in the shooting set as Amr found a preparatory student who can't read or write.

Director Amr Salama concluded his words by saying that he was keen on making Excuse My French a family film. Commenting on the open ending of the film, he said, "I don't want to spoil the film for you, but films in general ought to raise questions rather than spoon-feed you the answers. The question raised in this film is How can we coexist in peace?"

Written and directed by Amr Salama, Excuse My French is produced by Film Clinic and The Producers Films which runs by Producer Hani Ossama. Starring Kinda Alloush, Hany Adel, the film is distributed in Egyptian theaters by Al Massah Art Production.

The film was released in Egyptian theatres on January, 22nd, 2014, and had its world premiere at the opening gala of Luxor Egyptian and European Film Festival on Sunday, January 19th, 2014.

Excuse My French screens in the following Egyptian theatres: in Cairo | Americana Plaza in 6 October, Dream Land in 6 October, Cityscape Mall in 6 October, Nile City in Nile Corniche, City Stars in Nasr City, Golden Stars in Nasr City, Ramses Hilton in Downtown, Galaxy in El Manial, Odeon in Downtown, Cosmos in Downtown, El Tahrir in Dokki, Saray Mall in Hadayek El-qobba, El Amir in Shoubra, Modern in Shoubra, Family in Maadi, Normandy Outdoor in Masr El Gedida, El-Salam Concorde in Masr El Gedida, Galaxy Cineplex Mall of Arabia in 6 October, El Haram in El Haram, Golf City in Obour City, Lava Meeting Point in The 5th District, Alexandria | San Stefano, City Center, Amir, Cineplex Green Plaza, Kiroseiz, Renaissance Smouha OG, Banha Cinema in Banha, El Gezira Cinema in Mansoura, Donia Cinema in Ismailia, El Osra Cinema in Zagazig, and Rivoli Cinema in Tanta.