Few footage stuck in the memory of Egyptians from the Cannes Film Festival, the most famous festival of world cinema.

A picture of Tahia Karioka in "The Mullah Alwaf" in front of her film "Youth of a Woman" participating in "Kan" in the sixties of the last century, and Youssef Shaheen in his white suit gives a tearful salute to an audience who stood for 3 full minutes applauding a long journey of art, cinema, faith and passion.

Many passed by Kan, but few had an effect.

It was there that Saif El Din Hamida, the hero of the movie "Stacher", was able to make his first impression in one of the most important artistic forums in the world.

Because of the precautionary measures against Corona, Al-Jazeera Net conducted a conversation over the phone with Saif El Din Hamida, the hero of the movie "Stacher: I'm afraid to forget your face," which won the Palme d'Or for the Cannes Film Festival and the El Gouna Festival for Short Films.

Hamida, who came from the Folklore Theater, and was led by chance to Cannes.

A coincidence that led to a championship

3 years ago, Hamida passed by a production company that was asking for new faces at the time.

He gave a acting scene and then went on, he used to go to production companies for new face tests, and also used to not respond.

In 2019, Sameh Alaa, the director of the movie "Stacher", asked for a new face to star in his next work, and he tested dozens of faces, to no avail.

At the end of the day, he sat tired, and extended his hand to open discarded files on the computer, to find Saifuddin Hamida and his old scene, and asked him and the latter presented a scene from the film, and after 10 minutes of the meeting, the director tells him that he is the hero of his next film.

From a young age, his hobby was acting. Saif El Din Hamida, the neighborhood neighbors and school friends nicknamed him actor.

Al-Saghir grew up and his talent grew, and with the support of his family, Hamida began his first steps towards acting, studying theater, and joined the theater department at the Academy of Popular Arts.

Hamida says - to Al-Jazeera Net - that cinema was not his first ambition, and he did not expect that his first work would be a solo tournament, but that this work would receive the award that no one expected, and he continued, saying, "The film met with great public turnout when attending shows in Marjan. El Gouna, and many even saw it in more than one show. "

Oscars dream

Before the El Gouna Festival, the director of Stacher had traveled to Cannes to attend the Short Film Festival, while the film hero, screenwriter and producer traveled to El Gouna to attend the screening of the film there.

"Before the El Gouna Festival, I was in a TV interview and asked about my expectations for the film," Hamida says. "I said, 'We will win the Cannes and El Gouna Awards."

Great joy dominated the team in El Gouna, congratulations from everyone, a state of pride that prevailed on a night in which the artistic circles, especially the youth, did not sleep because of the news of the victory, but the joy of Saif's mother was different, so Hamida says: The first person I called after the news of the victory was my mother I heard her groaning as if she was hugging me, crying and saying, "I stayed up all night, praying for you to win, and God answered me."

Saifuddin Hamida has not arranged his next steps. He has many goals, but they are still in the hope phase.

The twenty-year-old says: What happened was a big leap that I did not dream of, and I did not arrange for it either, and I hope that more coincidences lead me to new dreams, such as the scenario of a new movie that Saifuddin is currently reading, while he is a Yemeni himself with the Oscar.

Fastest shooting and lowest budget

The film revolves around 15 minutes about a 16-year-old young man, trying to return to his girlfriend after a separation that lasted 82 days, and the film was shot in just two days in the popular Sakakini neighborhood in Cairo, and its production budget was estimated at 200,000 Egyptian pounds (12.8 thousand US dollars).

The film is directed by Sameh Alaa and is produced by an Egyptian, French and Belgian film. It is the first Egyptian film to participate in the "Cannes" Festival for Short Fiction Competitions.

The Cannes Festival administration decided to cancel the official competition for feature films this year due to the Corona pandemic last June, and announced a mini-version of the festival for the short feature films competition this month.