Oscars: Egypt Selects Abu Bakr Shawky’s ‘The Stories’ for International Feature Race

Abu Bakr Shawky’s drama “The Stories” — which is inspired by how the director’s Egyptian father and Austrian mother began their love affair as pen pals — has been selected as Egypt’s entry for the Academy Award for best international feature film. When Shawky’s father Ahmed was an aspiring pianist in Cairo in 1967, he […]

Abu Bakr Shawky’s drama “The Stories” — which is inspired by how the director’s Egyptian father and Austrian mother began their love affair as pen pals — has been selected as Egypt‘s entry for the Academy Award for best international feature film. When Shawky’s father Ahmed was an aspiring pianist in Cairo in 1967, he […] Oscars: Egypt has selected Abu Bakr Shawky's 'The Stories,' which is inspired by the director's family history, for the international feature race. Abu Bakr Shawky’s drama “The Stories” — which is inspired by how the director’s Egyptian father and Austrian mother began their love affair as pen pals — has been selected as Egypt‘s entry for the Academy Award for best international feature film.

When Shawky’s father Ahmed was an aspiring pianist in Cairo in 1967, he became pen-pals with a young Austrian woman named Liz, who is Shawky’s mother. The film spans from the late ’60s to the ’80s, and depicts life in his native country during that period from the cross-cultural prism that has formed his vision as an artist. Shawky made an international splash with his first feature, “Yomeddine,” which had the rare distinction of making the competition cut for Cannes in 2018. He followed