Egyptian cinematographer Mostafa El Kashef continues to make waves in the film industry, returning to the Cannes Film Festival with the feature film “The Village Next to Paradise” by Mo Harawe. This follows the success of his acclaimed short film “I Promise You Paradise”, which captivated audiences and won multiple awards at last year’s festival.

“The Village Next to Paradise” makes history as the first-ever Somali film to screen at Cannes, competing in the prestigious Un Certain Regard section. The film, produced by Freibeuter Film (Austria) and MAMAAl (Somalia), has already won recognition, including prizes from prestigious festivals in Marrakech and Locarno.

El Kashef’s cinematic talent extends beyond this recent project. His debut feature film, “19 B” with director Ahmed Abdullah, earned him the Henry Barakat Award for Best Artistic Contribution at the 44th Cairo International Film Festival. Overall, El Kashef boasts a staggering 10 cinematography awards from various festivals worldwide.

El Kashef’s career began with the British-Greek production “Moderation” (Anja Kirschner), which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. Subsequent collaborations on celebrated short films include “My Festival” (Jaylan Auf), “Jebel Banat” (Sharine Atef), and “This is My Night” (Yousuf Nouman).

2021 marked a breakthrough with three of his short films premiering at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival: “Cai-Ber” (Ahmed Abdelsalam), “Khadija” (Morad Mostafa), and “What We Don’t Know About Maryam”.

El Kashef’s recent prolific output includes “Enough Water to Drown” (Joseph Adel), “The Last Dismissal” (Jawaher Alamri), “Nahar Aber” (Rasha Shahin), and “Promise to the Sea” (Hind Soheil).

In addition to his cinematography, El Kashef founded Qaa’23, a production company behind “I Promise You Paradise” and “Enough Water to Drown”.