Blackout
TITLE
Blackout
DIRECTOR
Ahmed El Zogbhy
COUNTRY
Egypt
YEAR
2024
DURATION
15′
GENRE
Fiction
Blackout
It’s the Eid holiday. We’re in an apartment building that is owned and lived in by three generations of a very conservative family. When the elderly grandfather gets sick, his daughters believe that his illness is because of bad luck brought on by a young woman who rents an apartment in the building.
DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY - Ahmed El Zogbhy
Ahmed El Zoghby is an Egyptian filmmaker and screenwriter born in Port Said. Though he was accepted into a top academic program, he chose to study in Cairo to pursue his passion for cinema. With no formal film education, he taught himself through books and practice. His first break came as an assistant director on Clash, which premiered at Cannes. He later co-founded the film school Cima, organizing workshops with leading Egyptian filmmakers. His projects as a writer, include The Legend of Zeinab and Noah, which won a grant from Film Independent and five awards at Cairo Film Festival, and co-writing Hajjan 2023 (Premiered in Toronto & Red Sea film festivals), Bershama (2025) directed by Khaled Diab and Wattar Wahed 2025 starring Wegz . Ahmed worked for three years as a script developer at Film Clinic before becoming a freelance writer and script doctor. His directorial debut short Qafla (Blackout) is distributed by Film Clinic and represented by Manifest Pictures. It was selected for the 55th Tampere Film Festival and the 2025 Palm Springs ShortFest. In 2025, he participated in the Red Sea Series Lab with Film Independent, developing a TV series as co-writer. He is currently preparing his first feature film as a director, produced by Mohamed Hefzy, Ahmed El Dessouky, with Amjad Abu Alala and Hind Metwali as co-producers.
- DirectorAhmed El Zogbhy
- Screenplay Ahmed ElZogbhy
- Cinematography Ibrahim ElNaggari
- Cast
- Editing Sarah Abdallah
- Producer/s Hind Metwalli
- Production Company
- Distributor/sManifest
- Project TitleBlackout
- Project TypeFiction
- Completion Date1 January 2024
- Country of originEgypt
- Country of filmingEgypt
- LanguageArabic
- First-time FilmmakerYes
- Student ProjectNo
Ahmed El Zogbhy
Ahmed El Zoghby is an Egyptian filmmaker and screenwriter born in Port Said. Though he was accepted into a top academic program, he chose to study in Cairo to pursue his passion for cinema. With no formal film education, he taught himself through books and practice. His first break came as an assistant director on Clash, which premiered at Cannes. He later co-founded the film school Cima, organizing workshops with leading Egyptian filmmakers. His projects as a writer, include The Legend of Zeinab and Noah, which won a grant from Film Independent and five awards at Cairo Film Festival, and co-writing Hajjan 2023 (Premiered in Toronto & Red Sea film festivals), Bershama (2025) directed by Khaled Diab and Wattar Wahed 2025 starring Wegz . Ahmed worked for three years as a script developer at Film Clinic before becoming a freelance writer and script doctor. His directorial debut short Qafla (Blackout) is distributed by Film Clinic and represented by Manifest Pictures. It was selected for the 55th Tampere Film Festival and the 2025 Palm Springs ShortFest. In 2025, he participated in the Red Sea Series Lab with Film Independent, developing a TV series as co-writer. He is currently preparing his first feature film as a director, produced by Mohamed Hefzy, Ahmed El Dessouky, with Amjad Abu Alala and Hind Metwali as co-producers.
