Egyptian filmmaker scoops best newcomer award

An Egyptian-Welsh filmmaker has been awarded the Most Promising Newcomer at the London Evening Standard Film Awards for her first film, My Brother the Devil.

Sally El Hosaini was honoured for her debut movie about gun crime, sexuality and gangs, which took almost six years to complete.

The film tells the story of two bothers Rashid and Mohammed. Rashid sells drugs to a local gang and puts the money he earns in his mother’s purse. Screened at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, My Brother the Devil went on to win the cinematography award in the World Cinema Dramatic Feature category.

El Hosaini, who started filming in London during the summer riots of 2011, told The Independent that the events “underlined” why she had remained committed to raising money for the film. She added that there had never been a time when an “honest depiction of this world and disenfranchised youth” was needed more.